Spanish Castanets
by Aryang
Summary: Movie based. Some months after the movie events, a gypsy girl arrives in Paris, looking for safety. But she'll find more than she expected. Clopin/OC.
1. Arriving in Paris

**Hello everybody! This is my first fanfic. Please, understand that I've never done this in my whole life, so please be kind. I'm making a ClopinOC story. I would be glad if you reviewed(supposing that someone will read this, of course), told me if there are any mistakes(English is not my first language), etc. Please, warn me if I'm creating a Mary Sue! Thank you.**

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**Chapter One – Arriving in Paris**

Afternoon in Paris. The sun was hot in that summer day, and it made many of the people in the town wish the weather was colder, but not the young girl that walked slowly, staring at the buildings around her with curiosity. She liked the hot weather, because it reminded her of her native country, Spain. Everything in her appearance showed that she was a gypsy; her black corset around her white shirt, her dark blue skirt, her golden ear-rings, her black, straight long hair and her tanned skin. She had clear blue eyes, and was not very tall. She looked to be in the age of sixteen. Her hair was tied up with a purple ribbon, she had golden bracelets on her arms, and she carried a bag with her.

It was her first time in Paris, and she wanted to remember every inch of that city, although she knew that was impossible. Anyway, she looked all around her, wanting to know more about that strange place. Some people noticed her strange movements, and talked about her, but she didn't listen. She was so busy with looking around, that she forgot to look where she was treading, and soon she stepped on a puddle. She thought about how lucky she was to have enough money to buy shoes, because she was too absent-minded.

She continued walking, and soon she walked past a tavern, and she overheard a conversation of two men:

"You see, after Judge Claude Frollo discovered the localization of the Court of the Miracles, the gypsies are being more careful."

"Yes, I know. Although Frollo is dead, there are still people who hate gypsies. I don't know why, they are such a kind people."

"Oh, you can't trust these gypsies too much! They read you palm, telling you you'll get rich, while they steal your purse! Though I agree that gypsies are a funny people. But some people don't think like that. And the gypsies are so afraid that someone tries to attack them again, that they changed the entrance of the Court of the Miracles."

"Really? I didn't know about that. Well, perhaps they are right – when Frollo captured them, the bell ringer of Notre Dame saved them. But who knows if they will survive next time. That gypsy girl – what was her name again?"

"You mean Esmeralda?"

"Yes! This one. You remember, she was almost burned as a witch."

After that, the two men stopped talking about the gypsies, and the young girl stopped beside a house. She put her hand inside her shirt, and took off a woven band, with a cross in the center, a blue circle around it, and a symbol aside.

"Great. Now, this thing is useless" she said to herself. "Well, perhaps I could show this to the gypsies to prove that I am one of them. If they are being so careful… By the way, what exactly happened here? Who is, I mean, _was_ this Judge Claude Frollo? Well, I think I'll find out later. First, I have to find the gypsies, as it seems this band doesn't show anymore the entrance to the Court of the Miracles. I only hope they will let me stay, as father said…"

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**Short, I know, but I wanted to know first if you would like this story. Thanks for reading and, please, review! Let me know if at least someone read it, and if you want me to go on with this story!**


	2. Trouble

**No reviews… Alright, I expected that, because first chapter was really short, and not very good. I hope this one is better. Please, if someone reads this, review!**

**Chapter Two – Trouble**

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The gypsy girl wandered in the streets of Paris like a lost child, looking for some other gypsy who, she hoped, could help her. She wouldn't dare to ask anyone about gypsies, because of what she had heard in the tavern. She was very afraid that someone would try to hurt her or anything like that – she knew what persecution was, and she didn't like it.

Her feet took her to a square in front of a great building, and at the sight of the high towers of the big cathedral, she stopped and stared. She had never seen that building before, but she knew that it was the Cathedral of Notre Dame, the one her father had told her about. 'The towers are so high that they seem to touch the sky. The windows are more colorful than the rainbow, and the sound of the bells is so beautiful that makes you forget about your problems for a moment. And someday you will see it too, my dear Anita', she could remember every word he said.

"This place is beautiful…" she said to herself. "I want to see how it is inside."

Forgetting all her fears, she walked towards the cathedral, and went inside.

Everything was silent there. Some people were praying quietly, and some were lightning candles. The colorful windows threw beautiful images on the floor around Anita, and she admired the beauties of that place with her eyes wide.

Then, she remembered about her father, and started to think about where he could be now. She wondered if he was alright and suddenly felt very worried about him. She looked at the people knelt down, praying, and thought that it could be a good idea to do the same thing. She went to the place where these people were, knelt down and started. Of course, she had never studied Catholicism, and she didn't know any other prayer besides Ave Maria, in Latin, but she liked to speak to God. It made her feel calm inside.

"Lord, please, protect my father, wherever he is now. Let him escape alive of this nightmare. Don't let anything bad happen to him. And, please, help me as well. Help me find a safe place, the 'Court of the Miracles' my father told me to go. And, please, as always, help me with my shyness. I need to be brave and get by alone. Thank you for listening to me."

Anita got up and went out of the cathedral. "Well, so what do I do now?" she said to no one in particular, and started walking around again. After half an hour of walking, she heard a familiar kind of music coming of somewhere. She followed the sound and soon found a beautiful gypsy woman dancing with a tambourine. There was a goat jumping around the gypsy, a man playing the flute beside her and a hat on the floor, where people were throwing coins. The gypsy woman finished her dance and started counting the money people had thrown to the hat on the floor.

It seemed it was time to go and speak to the gypsy woman, but suddenly Anita felt that familiar feeling possessing her body. 'Oh, no', she thought. She knew exactly what that was. It was shyness.

Since she was a little child, she had been shy. She wouldn't speak to many people, and she always hid behind her mother or father. She had never been alone in her entire life, and now she was seeing that it would be more difficult than she thought. She felt absolutely ridiculous for just stand there, doing nothing, like a scared child, while the other gypsies were just in front of her.

The gypsy woman gave half of the coins to the man who played the flute and they started to walk away. Anita continued to stare, unable to move, until she heard a voice behind her:

"You, gypsy girl!"

She turned around quickly, and saw what she had been the most afraid of: three guards, holding their swords and looking at her with angry eyes. One of them said:

"What are you doing, gypsy?"

"I… Nothing, nothing", she answered, trembling.

"What if we take you to do nothing in the Palace of Justice?", said another soldier.

Now Anita was really afraid. Without a word, she turned around and ran as fast as she could. The soldiers started to run after her, and she knew she couldn't escape by running – she had always been a slow runner. She looked around, looking for some idea, and soon she found it: a bridge upon the river Seine. Anita ran faster and faster, and when she was in the middle of the bridge, she threw herself in the water. She started to swim, never coming above the water, until she couldn't hold her breathe anymore. She surfaced slowly, and when she was sure that there was no guard near, she swam to the shore of the river.

The sun was already setting, and Anita was completely wet. She got her bag, and for her lucky, her things weren't that wet; her bag was made of a very thick material. She walked to a wall, sat next to it and, with a lot of effort, made a little fire. She looked around, to be sure that no one was seeing her, and took off her clothes. She put them near the fire, and got a towel of her bag to dry herself. When she was dry, she put on a blue-green dress, and tried to warm herself staying close to the fire and with a cloak.

She felt very tired, and before she knew it, she was asleep, while the bells of Notre Dame rang, making her forget about her problems, at least for that night.


	3. The Court of the Miracles

**WOW! Reviews! I was so happy when I opened my e-mail box and there were the messages about the reviews! Thanks to Word-Wizard and AngelBaby908. Word-Wizard, I thought your suggestion so cool that I decided to use it! I hope this chapter is good. If it isn't, please tell me! If it is, review anyway, please. Just a note: in this chapter, there are some words in Spanish(after all, Anita comes from Spain!). I'll put the translation in the end of the chapter. Thanks for reading!**

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The bells of Notre Dame rang. Anita slowly opened her eyes and yawned. Although she had slept on the floor, without any kind of veiling upon her head or walls around her, she didn't feel tired at all. The fire she had made last night had disappeared, only the wood left. The sun was very hot. Her clothes were already dry, so she put them in her bag, and thought about what she was going to do now.

"Well, I have to think carefully. I already made enough silliness yesterday. If I had forgotten my shyness and went to speak to those gypsies, I would be safe by now."

After one minute, she took off her bag a purple scarf and tied it around her waist – after all, she wanted to look presentable. She combed and tied up her hair, got her bag and started to walk on the streets again – this time, paying a lot of attention, for she didn't want to get in trouble with the guards again.

But, after some minutes of walking, she realized how hungry she was. She remembered the last time she had eaten had been yesterday morning, while she was on her way to Paris – some grapes she had brought in her bag. But now she didn't have any food, and she knew that she couldn't stand much longer without feeding. She looked in her bag and, surprisingly, she found a few coins.

She went to fruit store, and bought an apple, her favorite fruit. She could have bought even more, but she thought it was better to save the money. While she ate, she wondered what time it was, and, trying to start forgetting her shyness and acting like a grown up, she walked towards a man and asked for the time.

"Two o'clock in the afternoon, young one" he answered.

Her chin almost dropped at that. No wonder the sun was so hot, it was past midday! She walked to a wall, and suddenly started laughing. She couldn't tell why, but sometimes she thought everything was funny and laughed because of stupid things. She put a hand on her mouth, and remained this way until she stopped laughing, trying not to call much attention to herself. When she felt normal again, she started to think.

"If it's already two o'clock, I don't have much time to find the gypsies. So, it's better to start right now. Goodness, I was really tired yesterday night, to have slept all this time!"

She made her way through the streets of Paris, looking all around her, smiling at all the new things she saw, watching and listening carefully at everything, but never forgetting to pay attention to the guards. Whenever she saw one, she walked to another street, hiding herself among the crowd.

But this time, she didn't find any gypsies. "Perhaps", she thought, "they usually go more to that side of the city I went yesterday, and today I went to the other side".

It was already five o'clock (she asked the time to an old woman who was serving drinks in a tavern). Anita felt hungry, tired, and miserable. She sat on the floor, and started to cry. How much she missed her father! He would know exactly what to do. He would tell her that everything was alright, and that crying would not solve the problem. The memory of her father, who was now Goodness knows where, only made her cry more, her head resting on her knees.

Suddenly, she looked up; if she knew what her father would tell her, why was she crying? All she had to do was use her imagination – and she knew she was good at that – and imagine her father was right beside her, talking to her. That gave her courage, and she stood up, wiped her tears, and looked around. It was time to stop crying, and acting. She saw that the place where she stood was perfect to what she wanted to do. She took off her bag two little things that looked like shells made of wood – her castanets. When she looked at her beloved instrument, she remembered her mother, who had taught her how to dance with the castanets.

"Remember, Anita, you must put a lot of emotion on your dance. A dance without emotion is like a morning without sun – meaningless."

How distant her mother seemed to be now… Much more distant than her father, because Anita knew she would never see her mother again, or hear her voice. Now, her mother's body rested lifeless seven feet under the ground, in Seville. Some tears threatened to fall, but she held them and continued to look in her bag. She got a green hat, that once had belonged to her father, when he was a child, and put it on the floor, in front of her. She put her bag next to her, adjusted the castanets to her hands, and started dancing.

The people who walked by started to stop and watch her; her dance was something new for them, something they had never seen before. Her castanets made a beautiful sound, while Anita moved her hands around her head and body. She stepped hard on the floor, and her low heel shoes made another sound, combining perfectly with the sound of the castanets.

People started to gather around her and throw coins, and when she finished her dance, with her hands together upon her head, there was a considerable crowd watching her, the hat was full of money and everyone started to clap. She made a bow and, as the crowd dispersed, she counted the money.

"Great!" she said to herself. "There is enough to eat a decent meal!"

Anita was happy she had been stronger than her sadness, and her shyness. She was usually shy when she started to dance, but after a few instants she forgot all about it and just left things happen.

She walked to a tavern, and ate her first hot meal in two days – she had only eaten fruits all that time. She ate some meat and bread, and drank water – she never drank wine. She had never tasted it, but she had heard that men got drunk for drinking too much of it, and she decided she would never drink anything alcoholic in her life.

When she finished, it was already getting dark, and she was again lost and alone on the street. "Great, I'm really useless. Is it so difficult to find gypsies and ask for their help?" she thought. She started to walk, though she did not know where she was going, until she saw something that caught her eye.

It was a picture of a cross, painted on the wall of an alley. She took a hand to her neck, where the woven band still was. She compared the symbol in the band with the cross in the wall.

"It's the same…" she said, quietly. "What does it mean?" she wondered, while walking back, to have a better view of the wall. "Can it be – " she stopped suddenly, because she wasn't feeling the floor under her feet anymore! For an instant, she felt that she was falling, but she soon hit the steps of a stone stair.

She looked up. She couldn't see the alley anymore – better said, she couldn't see anything, because everything was dark around her. With her hands, she reached a stone ceiling upon her head.

"Well, this is a stair. If I can't go up, I'll go down." she thought, and started to go down the stairs. After some minutes, the stair was over, and she found herself in a long corridor, with some torches lightning the way. She started to walk, looking around in fear, when she thought she heard a noise behind her.

"¿Quien está ahí?" she said, in Spanish. Although she spoke French and some other languages very well, when she got nervous she spoke in her native language, unconsciously. No answer came. She started to think it was just her imagination, when she saw a shadow moving on the wall – _a shadow that didn't belong to her_. She gasped, but before she could say or do anything, someone came behind her and held her wrists. She screamed, feeling very afraid, and suddenly there were a lot of men around her, who came out of nowhere.

"¡Suéltame! Let me go!", she said, getting desperate.

"Well, well, well… What have we here?" said one of them, who was right in front of her. He wore a purple outfit and a purple hat with a yellow feather.

"I think she's a spy!" said another.

"Don't be silly, look at her! She's a gypsy girl!"

"How do you know she's a gypsy girl, you moron? She could be disguised!"

At that point, all the men were screaming one with the other, and the corridor was a total mess. Then, the man with the purple outfit said, loudly:

"Stop, all of you! This discussion won't take us anywhere."

Everyone silenced. It seems this man has some authority between these people, Anita thought. The man looked at her, and asked:

"So, what are you doing here, young one?"

She couldn't speak for a moment, but after some seconds, she said, quietly:

"I… I was… lost and… looked for… and… help… and fell here…" she just couldn't form phrases; she was too nervous and scared.

"Hmmm… It seems you are a little confused, aren't you?" said the man in the purple outfit.

"I say she is a spy!" cried another man.

"Nobody's asked you, moron!" cried another one, and Anita realized they were the same men who started arguing before.

"Silence! Let's take her to the Court of the Miracles, and we'll decide what to do with her."

The Court of the Miracles! Anita had been looking for it for two days and, suddenly, she just ended there by accident.

The men took her through many passages, and they arrived to a big place, full of colorful tents. So this was the Court of the Miracles… Her father had told her about that place, for he had stayed there once, when he traveled to Paris, before she was born. But, for a place underground, she thought it had a… happy aura. There were a lot of torches everywhere, so the whole place had light, and there were people chatting and children playing. For a moment, Anita even forgot that she was somehow a prisoner of the gypsies.

Some of the people in the Court noticed them entering, and started to speak quietly about it, wondering who that girl was.

Then, Anita heard a female voice crying: "Clopin, what are you doing?" Anita was surprised to see the same gypsy woman she had seen dancing yesterday with the goat.

The man in the purple outfit said: "Hello, Esmeralda. This girl entered the Court and I…"

"I hope you weren't thinking about hanging her." Now Anita couldn't stop herself:

"Hang me? No, no lo hagan, please, don't do this to me!"

"Calm down, dear. Nobody's going to hurt you.", the gypsy woman, Esmeralda, said.

"Do you know her?" asked the man who Esmeralda had called Clopin.

"She's the girl I told you about. The one I saw running from the guards yesterday!"

"Really?" Clopin said, surprised.

"Really! Release her!" she demanded, and the man holding Anita's wrists released them. Then, Esmeralda said:

"I'm sorry, young one. It was all a misunderstanding. I am Esmeralda, and this is Clopin. You see, he is the king of the gypsies, and he sometimes exaggerates, but it's all to protect us from any intruders."

"Yes. I'm really sorry, young one, I didn't mean to scare you." said Clopin, seeming a little embarrassed. "What's your name?"

"Yo…" she hesitated for a moment. "My name is Ana. Ana Rivera. But people usually call me Anita."

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**Translation of the words in Spanish:**

¿Quien está ahí? : Who's there?

¡Suéltame! : Release me!

No lo hagan : Don't do this

Yo : I


	4. Explanations

**Sorry for taking so long to update! I was having tests on school. In this chapter, we'll learn more about Anita's past. I hope you like it. Sorry for any English mistakes, and please, review!**

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"Ana Rivera… It seems a Spanish name" Esmeralda commented.

"Yes. I am Spanish." Anita explained. "I… I'm sorry if I came here without permission, I was just looking for the Court of the Miracles and… and suddenly I just fell on a stair, and as I couldn't go back, I came down."

"Please, don't apologize. You have done nothing wrong" Clopin said.

"The entrance is a stone that turns down. You must have stepped on it by accident. So, you were looking for the Court of the Miracles?" Esmeralda asked.

"Y-yes… My father told me to come here and ask for help… I know this will sound strange, but some… circumstances forced my father to leave me some weeks ago and… I had to come to Paris alone… My father gave me this" she said, getting the woven band and showing it to Clopin and Esmeralda, "and told me to follow the map to find the entrance to the Court of the Miracles. I was hoping the gypsies would let me stay. But when I arrived in Paris, yesterday afternoon, I heard two men saying that the entrance to the Court had been changed."

"I understand…" said Clopin, examining the woven band. "You said some circumstances forced your father to leave you… Could you explain it better?"

"Yes, I could, but… Well, it's a long story."

"We can talk in my tent. Esmeralda, please, come too." Clopin said, walking towards a red and yellow tent.

When the three of them were inside the tent, Clopin said: "Please, sit down, you both." The two girls sat on some cushions, and Esmeralda said to Anita: "Now, dear, you can tell us your story. How did you end up alone in Paris, looking for the Court of the Miracles?"

Anita sighed, and said: "To tell you my story, I have to tell you first the story of my parents. I'll try to be… as short as I can." She took a deep breath, and started.

"My father was born in Spain, and he is a gypsy. He grew up traveling around Europe, and even some parts of Asia and Africa. He earns his money by selling things he gets in far away lands, like fans, pots, clothes, jewels, everything.

"My mother was born in England, and she was from a wealthy family. My father travelled to England once, and then he met my mother, when she went to his cart to buy some Chinese fans. She started to go there almost everyday, and though he was just a gypsy and she was a rich woman, they fell in love with each other. My mother loved my father very much, so she ran away with him, and they went to Spain.

"But my mother's family had promised her to another man. His name is Philip Bolder. When he knew my mother had ran away with another man, he was very angry, of course. But it wasn't just that. He was completely mad. He started to persecute my parents, wherever they went. He wanted to kill them, or at least my father, I guess. I never understood exactly why he was so obsessed with the idea of killing my father. I don't know if he was in love with my mother, or if he just wanted to 'save his honor', as some people say.

"Well, my parents traveled around the world with a group of more or less twenty gypsies. At first, they didn't trust my mother, because she came from a wealth family, but after some time they accepted her, and she became one of them. She learned how to dance, and she danced on the streets to earn money. My parents were very happy, although they were not really married and poor.

"When I was born, Philip Bolder grew even more obsessive, and wanted to kill me too. But my parents protected me. We moved from the place where we were when we heard that Philip Bolder was coming. The other gypsies of the group always agreed to move with us, because my father was a respected man of the group and they didn't want anything bad to happen to him.

"One day, we went to Africa. We visited many countries, and when we arrived in Nigeria, my mother was very ill. We didn't know what her illness was, or what to do to make her feel better, so we started to travel back to Spain. But when we arrived in Morocco, my mother died."

Anita paused for a moment, and looked down. Esmeralda and Clopin remained silent, and after some seconds Anita continued:

"We took her body back to Spain, and buried her in Seville. I was twelve years old when she died. My father was very sad with her death, more than he showed me, but he did everything he could to make me happy. We were able to live happily together, even without my mother.

"But things were getting more difficult for us. When Philip Bolder knew that my mother was dead, he grew completely mad. I think it was because he still had hopes of killing my father – and me as well – and forcing my mother to marry him. He persecuted us even more than before.

"A year ago, my father and I left the group. He thought it would be better for everyone. He didn't want to put all the other gypsies in danger anymore, and it would be easier for us to travel alone, calling less attention.

"About a month ago, Philip Bolder almost caught us. My father and I were on the road, going to Brussels – we were in Belgium –, and he suddenly appeared with his men, all them riding horses. It was the second time in my life I saw him; the first had been when I was six years old, and he almost caught us that time, too. My parents always did their best to avoid him, but he reached the group in the middle of the night. We all fought him, and for our lucky it seemed he and his men had been traveling for days without resting, and we were able to run away.

"But the second time was more serious. It was my father and I against a lot of armed men who wanted to kill us. We fought them for some minutes, only trying to avoid their attacks, and when we got the chance we ran to a forest right beside the road, and hid there. Philip Bolder and his men came behind us, of course, but it was dark and the forest was enormous; we escaped from him and, as soon as we could, we went back to the road and quickly arrived to Brussels.

"My father decided it was too dangerous for us to go on traveling together, as Philip Bolder was so close. He wanted to stay with me and protect me, but he thought I would be safer if I did not go with him. So he told me to go to Paris, and gave me the woven band to find the Court of the Miracles. He received the band as a gift from the gypsies when he came to Paris and stayed at the Court. He told me to stay here until he can come."

Anita didn't like having to share her story and her sadness, something she was used to keep hidden in her heart, with two people she barely knew, but yet it somehow made her feel lighter. For a moment, nobody said anything, and Anita started to feel uncomfortable. So she decided to add a last part:

"I arrived in Paris yesterday afternoon, and when I heard the entrance to the Court had been changed, I started to look for help. I saw you" she looked at Esmeralda "dancing in the street, and…" she hesitated a little. How could she say she hadn't spoken to Esmeralda because she was shy? No, she thought, they will laugh at me. "I was going to speak to you, but those guards appeared, and I had to run away."

"I saw you and the guards" Esmeralda said. "When they shouted 'You, gypsy girl!', I even thought they were talking to me, this happens a lot of times. But then I saw they were talking to you. When they started to run after you, I even wanted to help, but you and the guards disappeared. I was very worried about you, I even told Clopin about what happened. I am sorry for all the suffering you've been through."

"Me too" Clopin said, looking at her with sad eyes. Anita immediately felt that uncomfortable sensation, and this time it wasn't shyness. She knew that Clopin and Esmeralda were pitying her, and if there was something she, a proud Spanish girl, couldn't bear, it was pity. She quickly explained:

"Please, don't misinterpret me. I know that my story makes you think I had a lot of suffering in my life, but that's not true. Not for a single moment I thought I was an unhappy child. My life was always full of happiness, and my only sad moments were those two when I met Philip Bolder. I'm not an unhappy person, and I have never been. I only had some… problems, but everyone has problems, and if I just stopped and cried every time something doesn't go according to the plan, I wouldn't do anything else in my life." Anita realized she had already spoken enough, and stopped.

"That's very nice of you to think like that, Anita. You have my respect and, of course, my permission to stay here for as long as you wish" Clopin said. Anita sighed in relief.

"You must be hungry. And tired" Esmeralda said.

"In fact, I have eaten already. I'm just tired."

"Then you must rest. You can sleep in my tent tonight" Esmeralda said, and took Anita's hand. "Good night, Clopin. I think we all deserve some hours of rest."

"Good night for you both" Clopin answered.

Esmeralda led Anita through the colorful tents, and people were whispering about the new girl in the Court. But Anita was so distracted admiring the place that she didn't notice.

The two girls entered a green and purple tent. Inside, there was a bed with yellow sheets, a chest, where Anita supposed Esmeralda put her clothes in, a big mirror, a little table on the floor with a crystal ball on it, and some cushions around the table.

"You can sleep on the cushions. It's very comfortable, I promise" Esmeralda said, knowing that Anita wouldn't accept if she offered her bed.

"Thank you, Esmeralda. For everything" Anita tried to show her gratitude, and even smiled a little, despite her shyness.

"You are welcome, Anita. I hope you are happy while you stay at the Court of the Miracles. If there is anything you need help with, you can talk to me."

For a moment they remained in silent, both changing on their nightgowns – Anita had one in her bag – , and, while Anita put away her dress, she couldn't help but ask:

"Esmeralda… May I ask who was Judge Claude Frollo?"

Esmeralda seemed a little surprised, and asked: "Where did you hear about Frollo?"

"The same men who I heard talking about the Court of the Miracles yesterday said something about this Frollo and that the gypsies were afraid of him, but that now he is dead."

"It's a long story" Esmeralda said, and when they realized she had just repeated Anita's speech, both laughed. Anita didn't usually laugh with people she had just met, but she did that time. And she liked it! It was something new for her, and she was starting to like this new life.

"Well, I'll tell you" Esmeralda said, still laughing. "Everything started many months ago, at the Feast of Fools…"

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Anita woke up. She had no idea of what time it was, but she couldn't sleep anymore. She remembered the story Esmeralda had told her last night. What a fantastic story! She wished she could meet the bell ringer of Notre Dame. Esmeralda had said he was a very nice person. Anita looked around, and saw Esmeralda combing her hair in front of the mirror. She was already dressed.

"Good morning" Esmeralda said.

"Good morning" Anita answered. "What time is it?"

"About eight o'clock, I think. I need to go out now, to earn some money. You know, the food just doesn't come walking to our tables" Esmeralda joked.

"I see. Can I go out too? I want to make some money as well" Anita asked.

"Of course, dear! What do you do to earn money?"

"I dance. My mother taught me."

"How nice! Do you dance with the tambourine?"

"No, no, I don't even know how to hold a tambourine. I dance with the castanets."

"With what?"

"The castanets. Have you never heard about it?" Esmeralda shook her head. "It's a Spanish instrument." Anita looked in her bag and got her castanets. She adjusted one of the castanets to her hand, and played it. Esmeralda was amazed.

"What a beautiful sound! I had never heard something like that! I'm sure you can do a wonderful dance with this instrument!" Esmeralda said.

Anita put her white shirt, black corset and blue skirt on – she liked her blue-green dress, but her favorite outfit was definitely this one. When she was ready, with her hair tied up with the purple ribbon, she and Esmeralda went out of the tent.

People were going out of the Court, walking and talking. Anita looked down, to avoid the inquisitive eyes of the people around her.

Esmeralda led her through the dark passages, until they arrived to the stair, and waited for their turn to go out – to call less attention, the gypsies didn't get out of the Court all together.

"I know a place that's good for dancing. Lots of people go there" Esmeralda said, after they finally got out. They walked through the streets until they arrived to the place Esmeralda had talked about. Esmeralda noticed Anita nervousness, and said:

"I can go first, if you want. You can sit and watch, and when I finish, you dance."

Anita nodded and smiled, grateful. Esmeralda started her dance, and people gathered around to watch and throw coins at the hat she had placed on the floor. Anita was impressed – Esmeralda's dance seemed to hypnotize everyone who watched it. When she finished, everyone clapped. Esmeralda went to Anita and said: "Now it's your turn, Anita. Good luck!"

Anita gulped, and stood up. No matter how many times she danced on the streets, she always felt nervous before she started. She adjusted her castanets to her hands, took a deep breath, and started. She tried to remember her mother, who was one of the most gracious dancers she had ever seen – just as good as Esmeralda – and tried to put her feelings on her dance. Soon, she forgot where she was and what she was doing, and danced with all of her soul. For the people who watched, she seemed to be dancing in a world of her own. Anita closed her eyes, moved her hands around her head, and made a kind of song with the noise of her castanets.

After some minutes of dancing, that seemed to last just a second, she jumped to the side, making noise with her shoes, and finished her dance with her left hand upon her head and her right hand on her waist. The crowd cheered, and she made a bow, her face red both of blushing and of the effort she had just made. While the crowd dispersed, she walked to Esmeralda.

"So, how it was?" she asked.

"How it was? Anita, your dance is wonderful! I've never seen anything like that! You HAVE to teach me to dance like that!"

"Of course, if you teach me how to dance with the tambourine!"

"We have a deal" Esmeralda said, and both laughed. They started to count the money they had earned.

"There's enough for some bread. And it reminds me we didn't eat anything this morning."

They went to the bakery, bought some bread, and ate it together. The rest of the day was spent on dancing, eating fruits and running from the guards. During the day, Anita got to know Esmeralda better and she was happy that she was making a new friend. Perhaps, after all, living in Paris without her father wouldn't be that bad.


	5. Meeting New Friends

**Wow! Finally! I took a long time to finish this chapter. I don't know, but it seems my teachers were in a bad mood this week, and gave us a lot of homework... Any way, chapter 5 is here. Sorry if it's too bad. I swear I tried to do my my best! Again, there are a few words in Spanish, and there will be more on next chapters; the translation will always be in the end of the chapter. Oh, one more thing: Opaque Opal asked me how they took the body of Anita's mother from Nigeria to Spain without it rotting. Well, I don't know if I wrote it wrong, but in fact Anita's mother GOT ILL in Nigeria and DIED in Morocco. And Morocco is not that far from Spain. I hope you like this chapter. If it's too bad, please warn me!**

* * *

Esmeralda and Anita started to go back to the Court at the sunset. They both talked about a lot of things, and Anita was surprised with herself. Never in her life she had been able to chat with people she had just met – in fact, she had difficulties to speak even to people she had known for many years – and, yet, there she was, talking with Esmeralda like if they were old friends.

They were turned a corner, and Esmeralda said, pointing to a man with a horse: "Look! It's Phoebus! Remember I told you about him last night?"

Anita nodded. Esmeralda had told her that Phoebus was the captain of the guard, and that he had fought against Frollo with the gypsies. Esmeralda had said too that she and Phoebus were engaged.

The man Esmeralda was pointing to was tall, blonde and wore armour. His horse was white, with black mane and tail. Esmeralda called him, and he walked towards them.

"Phoebus! I want you to meet my new friend, Anita Rivera. Anita, this is Phoebus."

"A pleasure to meet you, mademoiselle Rivera" he said to Anita.

"The pleasure is mine, Captain Phoebus" she said, blushing. She always blushed when she met new people.

"Please, just call me Phoebus" he said, and, for Anita's relief, he turned to talk to Esmeralda. "How are things going, my love?"

"Phoebus, I need to tell you that the soldiers are still persecuting the gypsies. Two days ago, they almost arrested Anita for no reason" Esmeralda told him.

"It seems these soldiers and I don't speak the same language. I've already told them not to persecute gypsies, but it seems they don't listen" Phoebus said, sounding a bit angry. "Never mind. It won't happen again."

Anita had been paying attention to their conversation, and didn't notice that Phoebus horse was right behind her, and she only realized that when the horse put his nose inside her bag and started looking for something. She gasped, in surprise.

"Achilles! How rude!" Phoebus said, pulling the reins of the horse.

Anita looked inside her bag, and soon found what had caught the eye of the horse.

"Hey, boy, do you like apples?" she said, offering Achilles one. "You can eat! This one is fresh." The horse looked at her for a moment, as if he _was_ paying attention to what she was saying, and ate the apple. Anita smiled. She loved horses, since she was little.

When Achilles finished eating the apple, he licked Anita's face. She laughed. "Ah, I understand you, I love apples too." She caressed the horse's head, and Achilles neighed, gratefully.

"It seems he likes you" Phoebus said, and Anita laughed.

"I didn't know horses licked people", she said. "I thought only dogs did it."

"Well, talking about the habits of the animals is nice, but we have to go now" Esmeralda said. "Goodbye, Phoebus. See you tomorrow."

"Goodbye, love" Phoebus said, kissing Esmeralda's forehead.

After Phoebus was gone, Anita said: "This reminds me, Esmeralda; when I saw you dancing, two days ago, there was a goat with you. Where is it now?"

"Oh, that's Djali. She sometimes disappears in the middle of the Court and I can't find her anywhere! But she'll come back when she gets hungry."

The two girls walked through the streets and soon arrived to the entrance of the Court of the Miracles. They looked around, to make sure no one was near, and entered.

* * *

Like always, there were lots of people everywhere. People talking, walking, playing instruments, dancing, children playing. Anita was fascinated with all that happiness around her, and stared at the Court in some sort of trance.

"Hello, ladies!" a voice said suddenly. Anita jumped in surprise, and realized it was Clopin.

"Clopin, don't scare us like that!" Esmeralda said.

"I' m sorry" Clopin said. "Anita, I wanted to talk to you. We need to find you a nice tent."

Anita was going to say that she didn't want to bother him, but them she remembered that she was staying at Esmeralda's tent, and she didn't want to bother her as well, so she said, after a moment: "Cierto… Alright, if it doesn't bother you."

"Of course not, Anita! We have lots of empty tents here, you only have to choose" he said, and pointed to some tents. "All those are empty."

Anita hesitated for a moment; she hated having to choose things. She usually said 'It doesn't matter, anything is good for me', and that was exactly what she was going to say, but then she remembered her father saying: "Don't ask people to choose things for you. Even if anything is good for you, choose something". She decided she was going to try, and pointed to a dark blue tent, with some red stripes. "Is that blue one empty?" she asked, wanting to make sure she wouldn't make any mistakes.

"Yes" Clopin said. "Do you like it?"

"Sí…" she said, and even forgot to correct herself. But Clopin seemed to understand, and said: "So, this is going to be your tent! And welcome to the Court of the Miracles!"

Suddenly, a puppet that looked just like Clopin appeared in his hand, and said: "Welcome! Welcome!"

Anita laughed, both amused and admired; how could Clopin make the puppet talk without even moving his lips? She decided to play along, and said to the puppet: "Hello, I'm Anita. Who are you?"

"I'm Puppet! And this is the guy who always walks behind me, for some reason I ignore" the puppet answered, indicating Clopin.

"Oh, really? I thought he was the one who made you speak!"

"Humpf… Only because he's bigger than me, everyone thinks he's my master." After saying that, the Puppet started crying.

"Oh… Don't cry, Puppet" Anita said, pretending to be sad, and kissed the Puppet's head. Immediately, the Puppet stopped crying, and turned to Clopin.

"You see? She likes me better than you! She even gave me a kiss!"

"Alright, Don Juan. Let's show Anita her tent."

They walked towards the tent and entered. Inside, there was a mattress with colorful sheets, a medium sized chest, a small table, a cushion on the floor and a broken mirror left on the floor.

"Sorry for the mess… But I think it will be easy to put everything in place. And perhaps we can get you a better mirror – " Clopin said, but Anita interrupted him:

"No, please, this one is good." She picked up the mirror. "I like things with unusual forms."

It seemed the mirror had once been oval shaped, but it was difficult to say – it was broken all over the edge, and there was a huge crack in the middle. But still, Anita thought it was beautiful. She turned around to face Clopin and Esmeralda.

"Thank you for everything you've done for me. This is more than I expected and I'm very grateful to you both."

"You are welcome, Anita. We hope you – hey, what's this?"

Esmeralda was interrupted by something that entered the tent very quickly, and soon they saw it was Djali.

"Djali! You scared us! How did you find me here?" Esmeralda said, kneeling down to caress Djali's head.

"We saw you coming here, and brought Djali to you" said a female voice. Anita looked at the entrance of the tent and saw two girls who seemed to be about her age.

"May we go inside?" one of them asked.

"Of course! Anita, these are Lynna and Adele. Girls, this is Anita – she has just arrived in the Court" Clopin said.

"Hello! We saw you with Esmeralda this morning. It's very nice to meet you. I'm Adele" said one of them, who had brown curly hair and clear green eyes.

"And I'm Lynna" said the other one, who had blonde hair and brown eyes. "We wanted to meet you since we saw you this morning. You see, it's been a long time since someone last came to the Court."

"Ah…" Anita started, nervous. She had never met so many people in such little time. In two days, she had met Esmeralda, Clopin, Phoebus, and now Lynna and Adele. "I'm happy to meet you too." She could feel clearly that she was blushing.

"Hey, no need to blush like this! We only want you to be our friend" Adele said, and Anita blushed even more, but also smiled a little. "You can come to have dinner with us tonight, if you want. We'll eat together in my tent, and my mother will make a delicious meal for us."

"Ah… Bueno… If it doesn't bother you…" Anita said, shyly.

"Of course not! We will love to have you as our friend" Lynna said, happily.

"Then I accept" Anita said. "I… I want you to know that I am very happy with your invitation.

"Wonderful! My tent is that yellow and orange one" Adele said, going outside and pointing to a tent. "You can come in twenty minutes. My mother is cooking dinner."

"So, you'll have time to put away your things before going" Esmeralda said. "Let's leave Anita alone for a moment, she needs to rest a little. We had quite a full day."

Esmeralda, Clopin, Adele and Lynna left the tent, and Anita found herself alone. She opened the chest and put her clothes and belongings inside it. She felt very tired, so she laid down in the mattress and closed her eyes to rest for a moment.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Anita got up, placed the mirror on the chest, and started to comb her hair in front of it. Lynna and Adele had been very kind with her, and she wanted to look presentable for the dinner.

When she was ready, she went out of her tent and walked towards the yellow-and-orange one that Adele had indicated. She stopped at the entrance, not sure if she should enter, but she took a deep breath, opened the "door" (that in fact was just a big piece of fabric) and said: "Excuse me?"

"Anita! Come in" she heard Adele saying. She entered and saw Adele, Lynna and an old woman sat on cushions around a short table.

"Mom, this is Anita, the new gypsy in the Court" Adele said. "Anita, this is my mother, Miriam."

"Hello, my dear! Come and eat with us!" Miriam said. Anita sat down and said: "A pleasure to meet you, madam."

"Oh, please, don't come to me with this 'madam' thing. I'm only… Well, I don't think I need to say my age out loud. Just call me Miriam."

"Alright, Miriam" Anita said, laughing. She liked this woman.

"That's better" Miriam said, and they all started to eat. "I've heard that you came to Paris all alone. But you seem so young… How old are you, dear?"

"Sixteen, since last month" Anita replied.

"Goodness! You're almost a child!" Miriam exclaimed.

"Don't listen to my mother. She always thinks anoyone younger than her is a child" Adele said.

"Why do you travel alone? Couldn't your parents come with you?"

"It's a long story…" Anita said, and laughed. It was the second time she said that in two days!

"Hey, what's so funny?" Lynna said.

"Nothing, it's just that I said this a lot in the past few days. I'll tell you why I traveled alone…"

Anita explained them everything, but this time she didn't feel so uncomfortable like she felt when she told her story to Clopin and Esmeralda. 'Perhaps', she thought, 'I'm getting used to talk to new people'.

"Wow… That's quite a story" Adele said, when Anita finished.

"But soon my father will come. I only had to come alone to Paris to be safe, while I wait for him."

"I'm sure your father will come soon, dear." Miriam said.

"You said you danced with an instrument… What was the name again? Castanets, isn't it?" Lynna asked, and Anita nodded. "I've never seen this instrument… Could you please show me later?"

"Of course! The sound of the castanets is wonderful. I think you'll like it."

"She could dance for us out there, near the stage where the hangings happen" suggested Adele.

"That's a good idea!" approved Miriam.

"Aaahh… Tú… You mean, dancing _out there_, in the middle of the Court?" Anita asked, nervous.

"Why not? Everyone does that. After dinner, we sometimes sit there, sing, dance, and chat" said Lynna.

"Oh, but, I mean, I don't know if I can really dance in front of all those people…"

"You said yourself that you dance on the streets to earn money! You said you did it this morning!"

"Oh, sí, yes, that's true, but one thing is dance on the street; another _different _thing is dance in the middle of the Court, in front of…" Lynna didn't let Anita finish:

"I don't see why it's different. We insist you dance for us out there! Tonight!"

"_Tonight_?" Anita repeated, shocked.

"Tonight!" said Adele and Miriam together. "Now! Let's get these castanets and go!" Adele said, grabbing Anita's hand and leading her out of the tent. Lynna ran behind them, laughing.

'Oh, my' Anita thought, 'I think I'm in trouble'. But, while she thought this, she laughed.

* * *

**Translation of the words in Spanish:**

**Sí: yes**

**Bueno: well**

**Tú: you**


	6. Peace and War

**Alright, this chapter _is_ boring. But I was very busy this week, and I will be busy next week too, because I'll be having tests at school, and I'll also be in a school part, and we are rehearsing a lot, so I won't have time to update in the next two weeks. Sorry if this chapter is too bad, I don't own the Hunchback of Notre Dame, etc, etc, etc...**

* * *

Anita felt very nervous. But, at the same time, she thought everything was so funny that she wanted to laugh. All that mix of feelings made her feel very confused.

'Well' she thought, 'it can't be _that_ hard to dance in front of the gypsies.' She tried not to think about it, but other thoughts came to her mind:

'But what if Adele and Lynna don't like my dance? What if _no one_ likes my dance?' She was in panic.

"Now, let's sit here and watch Anita's dance" Lynna said, sitting on the floor, next to a wall, after they had caught Anita's castanets and gone to the centre of the Court, near the stage where the hangings happened. Anita was glad that the place was a little dark, because there weren't many torches near it, and that the other people in the Court were busy with other things.

'Perhaps nobody will even notice' she thought. Taking a deep breath, she adjusted the castanets to her hands, and looked to Lynna and Adele:

"Promise you won't laugh if I do anything wrong?"

"Of course not, Anita! We would never laugh at you" Lynna said.

"You have known us for so long, how can you think we would do such a thing?" Adele said, in a teasing tone.

"She knows us since _one hour ago_" Lynna said.

"So, don't you think one hour is a lot of time? Now, please, Anita, dance for us!" Adele said, clapping. Anita decided it was better to start soon and stop Adele's applause, to call less attention. 'Well' she thought, 'if I do something stupid, at least I'll have something to laugh at later'. She started only with graceful and slow movements of her hands, and suddenly made faster movements, and played her castanets. That magical sound made her forget all about her fears about dancing in the middle of the Court. But only for a moment – after some minutes, she remembered where she was, and noticed that a few people were watching her dance. She started to panic, but tried to control herself.

Anita was surprised to see that she _could _dance knowing that there were people watching. Usually, she tried to forget about the public, and danced only for herself, pretending she was alone. This time, she was really dancing for the other people.

Anita started to feel uncomfortable, because some people were approaching to see her dance, and between these people she saw Clopin. She felt like a child for thinking that way, but she felt too shy about dancing to the Gypsy _King_. She kneeled down, playing her castanets one last time, and stopped. By that time, there was a little crowd around her, and everyone clapped. There weren't so many people like in the street, but Anita felt her face turning red. She made a bow, and turned quickly to face Lynna and Adele. But before they could say anything, Clopin appeared beside them and said, loudly:

"My friends, I think all of you noticed this new gypsy among us. Her name is Anita Rivera, and she'll be staying with us."

This time, Anita felt that her face was turning purple! Everyone was looking at her. 'It even seems they are making a competition to see who makes me blush more' Anita thought.

"Anita! Your dance is wonderful!" Lynna said, hugging her.

"You have a different style! Did you see how everyone was impressed?" Adele said.

"It seems you three are getting along very well" Clopin said, smiling.

"Oh yes, sure!" Adele said. "We only have to teach Anita how to dance or speak without blushing!"

'I think Adele will win this competition' Anita thought, blushing even more.

"You're right" Clopin said. "Hey, we can take her to meet some new people, what do you think, girls?"

"Great!" Adele and Lynna said together. They grabbed Anita's hands and walked towards the tents.

* * *

On that night, Anita met so many people that she couldn't remember all their names. Almost everyone was kind to her, and she was starting to feel a little less shy. But she noticed some people were glaring at her, unfriendly. She tried not to think about it, and stayed close to Clopin, Lynna and Adele all the time. They met Esmeralda, too, and she was happy to see that Anita was making friends.

Hours later, Anita felt very tired, and wanted to go to her tent to sleep. But Clopin insisted that she should meet everyone, so she didn't say anything.

The last tent they visited was a brown and yellow one. A boy and a girl were playing in front of it, and when they approached, the children ran towards Clopin.

"Clopin! Clopin!" they shouted. "Did you come to tell us a story?" the girl asked.

"Unfortunately not, Sagira" Clopin said. "It's too late. And by the way, shouldn't you two be sleeping now?"

"Sagira! Alejandro!" a woman's voice shouted. "What are you doing out there at this hour in the night?"

A woman went out of the tent. She had a black wavy hair, dark skin and wore a pink and green dress.

"Hello, Marie" Clopin said. "Sorry for coming to visit you so late, but I wanted to introduce Anita to your family. She's new here."

"Oh, hello, Anita. Nice to meet you" Marie said.

"Ah, oh, it's nice to meet you too, madam" Anita replied.

"These are my children, Sagira and Alejandro. They're twins. And my husband is in our tent… José! Love! Come here, we have visitors!"

"I'm going…" A man went out of the tent. He was a little fat, and had a black beard.

"This is Anita" Marie said.

"Anita? Can it be…" the man said, examining Anita carefully. "Your father isn't Juan Rivera, is he?"

Anita was very surprised. Did this man know her father? "Yes, he is my father" she answered, a bit confused.

"Goodness! I can't believe it's you! Child, I know you don't know me, but I am your father's friend since we were little boys."

"Really?" Anita didn't expect that. Meeting a friend of her father! It seemed too good to be true.

"Yes! My parents belonged to the same gypsy group your father's parents did. We were good friends. But, when we came to Paris, I left the group. I wanted to make a family" José explained. "I remember when he met your mother. She was a very gentle creature. She was pregnant when I left the group. Juan always said that, if he had a daughter, he would name her Ana."

"Oh, that's so good to meet you, señor José!" Anita said, shaking his hand and smiling. When she was excited about something, she forgot her shyness – and messed up languages.

"I'm happy to see that my friend's daughter is well and healthy. And that she's a pretty girl, too" José said. Anita blushed with that compliment, but she was so happy that she didn't say anything.

"Look at you" he continued, "you look just like your father. Your hair is just like his, black and straight! But you have the eyes of your mother."

"Thank you, sir" Anita said, but she didn't want to talk about herself. She wanted to talk about her father. "Did you know my father well?"

"If I knew him well? We were best friends, child! Sit here with me, and I'll tell you some stories. We used to play tricks on every gypsy of the group. Our mothers were very angry, but we just couldn't stop, it was too funny."

Anita smiled. Suddenly, she didn't feel tired at all.

* * *

Anita talked with José for hours, and Adele and Lynna stayed with them, too. Clopin had gone to do something else, because, as the gypsy king, he was always busy.

After an hour, Anita was almost sleeping while she talked, and so were Adele and Lynna. The girls went to their tents and separated. When Anita entered her tent, all she could do was put on her nightgown and throw herself in the mattress to sleep.

She woke up the next morning. Her hair was a total mess, because she had forgotten to untie it before going to sleep, so she took off her ribbon and started to comb her hair in front of the mirror. When she finished, she tied up her hair, put on her clothes and went out of her tent.

She had no idea of what time it was, but she felt hungry, so she got some of the money she had earned yesterday with Esmeralda, and decided to go to the market and eat something before start dancing on the streets.

She was almost arriving to the exit of the Court, when she heard a voice behind her:

"So, you are the new gypsy in the Court."

Anita turned around. She saw two girls; one of them seemed to be older than her, and the other one seemed to be about her age. The one that seemed older was tall with wavy dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. The other had a red curly short hair, dark skin, black eyes, and she was shorter than the other. Both were beautiful, but the one with brown hair had such an arrogant expression on her face, and the one with red hair looked so angry that Anita felt a little scared.

"Yes, soy – I'm new here… Mí nombre es… My name is Anita" she said, trying to sound friendly. But the two girls didn't smile.

"And what makes you think we want to know your name?" the red-haired girl said.

Anita wasn't expecting such rudeness, and she didn't know how to react. She remained silent, and it seemed the brown-haired girl was going to say something, when someone behind them said:

"Hey, Camille! Be careful with this tongue of yours! Don't say anything you could regret later."

It was Adele, and Lynna was with her. They approached.

"I hope you weren't bothering our friend" Lynna said.

"Of course we weren't" the red-haired girl said. "We only wanted to warn her."

"W-warn me? About what?" Anita said, stuttering.

"Just remember this: may you think that your noisy dance _is_ _something_, only because of some stupid people's applause, but don't dare to think you're someone special. You're just an outsider who had luck."

With that, the two girls left. Anita was shocked – those girls didn't even know her, but they were so rude to her! As if reading her mind, Lynna said:

"Don't listen to those two. The brown-haired one is Camille, and the other is Audrey. They don't like anyone, and nobody likes them."

"Yes, they're always rude to everyone. Don't listen to them. They like to make people feel bad about themselves." Adele said.

"Well, they do their jobs well" Anita said, looking down, feeling her eyes full of tears.

"Oh, no, please, don't cry! They are only two stupid girls. You don't make a 'noisy dance'. You can dance very well." Adele said, hugging Anita.

"Thank you" she whispered. "I guess you are right. I can't let them upset me."

"That's our Anita!" Lynna said, cheerfully. "Now, let's go to town to earn some money."

"What do you do to earn money?" Anita asked.

"I dance with the tambourine. Lynna sometimes dances too, but she prefers to play the flute" Adele explained.

"Hey, we would make a great show together. I, playing the flute, Adele, dancing with the tambourine, and Anita dancing with the castanets" Lynna suggested.

"Great idea, Lynna! What do you think, Anita?"

"I think it will be wonderful!"

Laughing, the three girls went to the exit of the Court of the Miracles.

* * *

**Translation of the words in Spanish:**

**soy: I am**

**Mí nombre es: My name is**

**señor: mister**

**A/N: José is the Spanish equivalent of Joseph. Just for you to know.**


	7. I don't know how to name this chapter

**Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeird chapter. And short as well. And ridiculous. But, as I told you, I was very busy last week, and I am busy this week too. That's what I could write... Sorry if it's too bad, or too cliche, or anything, but, as you can see by the name of this chapter, I was sort of... Zero creativity. And I couldn't stop thinking about the Disney movie Mulan... I think you'll understand what I'm talking about when you read. What else? Sorry if it's too bad - no, I've already said that... I don't own HOND, please, review, the sun is still shining outside... Oh, surely I haven't got anything else to say.**

* * *

The three girls went to a street near Notre Dame. Lynna sat down and started playing the flute, while Anita and Adele started dancing. The beautiful sound of the flute, the tambourine and the castanets being played together attracted many people. Anita even forgot that she was hungry. She was having so much fun with Adele and Lynna that she couldn't think about anything else.

They made a beautiful show together, and people were throwing lots of money to them. Lynna was playing a beautiful song with her flute, Anita danced a little shyly, but still gracefully, and Adele made a cheerful and fast dance, shaking the tambourine.

The hat they had placed on the floor was full of coins when they stopped. They all agreed to eat something, and they went to the market. Anita and Lynna chose apples, while Adele ate some bread.

"Did you see how people were throwing coins like mad for us?" Adele said, excited.

"Of course we did, Adele! We just used this money" Lynna said.

"I think we make a great team together. What do you think, girls?" Adele asked.

"Sure!" exclaimed Lynna and Anita together, and they all laughed. They knew it was a little stupid to be laughing there in the middle of the street, but they didn't care about it.

When they were able to stop laughing, they shared the rest of the money between them. But when they had finished…

"Look! Guards!" Lynna said, quietly.

"Let's get out of here before they see us!" Adele said. They started to run, and soon Adele and Lynna had disappeared among the crowd. But Anita was too slow, and she couldn't reach her friends.

"Lynna! Adele! Wait for me!" she shouted, but they didn't hear. Anita looked upon her shoulder. The guards were coming closer.

'Oh my, they can't see me with this money!' she thought. She tried to put the coins in her bag, when she realized she hadn't brought it. She remembered she had a secret pocket in her skirt, which her mother had sewed for her, but when she thought about it, one of the guards said: "Hey, gypsy!"

There was no way she could put the money in her pocket without the guard seeing it, so she did the only thing she could think of: put the coins in her mouth before turning around to face the guard.

"Surely, you weren't doing anything against the law, I suppose?" the guard asked.

"Hmm-hmm" Anita answered, shaking her head. When she did it, she felt the coins rolling inside her mouth. 'Goodness, this way I'll swallow these coins' she thought. She put her hand inside her pocket, desperately, and felt that there was something inside it. 'My Chinese fan! That's why I couldn't find it anywhere! It was here all the time!' She remembered the day her father had given her the fan, in her fourteenth birthday. They were in China. Anita loved that fan, but one day it disappeared. She didn't have much time to think about it, though, because she had to go to Paris quickly, and now she had found her fan.

But she didn't have time to celebrate. She needed to do something quickly, because the guard was growing impatient:

"So? Why don't you say something?"

Anita started to cough, putting a hand on her mouth, and picked up her fan. She opened it, hiding her face, and got the coins from her mouth with her hand. They were wet, and Anita made a face of disgust behind the fan, but quickly put the coins inside her pocket, bending her body, so the guard wouldn't notice. She turned to the guard.

"I'm sorry sir, I'm a little ill" she said, trying to sound husky and shaking the fan in front of her face.

"Well, well, then tell me: what were you doing standing in the middle of the street, like a statue?"

Ooops! How does one answer such a question?

"Ah, eh, ah, oh, you see, I mean…" 'What do I say? WHAT DO I SAY?'

"Oh, look, a green man riding an eight-legged purple horse!" Anita exclaimed, pointing to the place right behind the guard. He turned around to see what she was talking about, and when he did it, Anita started to run as fast as she could.

" 'Green man riding an eight-legged purple horse', it was SO stupid…" she muttered. "What was I thinking? Anyway, I think it worked…"

Anita couldn't see the guards anymore, so she started to look for Adele and Lynna. After half an hour of walking, Anita hadn't found them, and she was very tired, so she sat down on the floor, her back against a wall.

"Where could they be?" she said to herself.

"What do you mean by 'you lost her'?" she heard a voice say.

"It wasn't our fault!" another voice said. It was Adele! "Some guards appeared, and we ran. We thought she was coming right behind us! But when we stopped, she wasn't with us anymore!"

Anita got up and walked around the corner. She saw Adele, Lynna and Clopin arguing in an empty street. Clopin was wearing a colourful outfit with bells, and a pink mask.

"She doesn't know anything in Paris; she will get lost" Clopin said, looking worried.

"Oh, my, and it's our fault!" Lynna said, desperate, putting her face in her hands.

"Hey, don't cry, I'm right here" Anita said, walking towards them. But she didn't walk much; before she got close, Adele and Lynna ran towards her and hugged her.

"Anita! Thank Goodness you are alright!"

"We were so worried about you! Why didn't you come with us?"

"I _tried_, but I'm too slow. One of those guards almost arrested me" Anita explained.

"How did you manage to escape?" asked Clopin.

"Well… The guard wasn't very clever, that's a fact."

"Oh, please, tell us! I'm curious!" Lynna said.

"Alright, I just hid the coins in my mouth before the guard approached, so he wouldn't see me with the money, and when he came, I took out my fan and hid my face, so I could take the coins out of my mouth and put them in my pocket."

"And then?" Clopin asked.

"Well… It's very stupid. But when I say stupid, I mean VERY stupid."

"Alright, but tell us!" Adele begged.

"I said: 'Look, a green man riding an eight-legged purple horse!'. He turned around to see what I was talking about, and then I ran." Anita explained, blushing a little.

Clopin, Lynna and Adele stared at her for a moment and then burst out laughing. Anita blushed even more.

"Green man… Green man… Ahaha!" Adele said, her hands on her stomach. Lynna laughed so hard that she fell on the floor.

"Eight-legged purple horse? That would make a good story" Clopin said, wiping away a tear.

"Oh, alright, you can laugh. That was really idiotic" Anita said, looking at the other side, trying to hide her red cheeks.

"Idiotic? It was brilliant! I would never think about something like that to distract a guard! How did you manage to think of such a weird thing?" Lynna said.

"Now let's go back to work" Adele said. "Hey, Anita, you need to stop blushing every time we talk to you. Eight-legged purple horse… Goodness, it was funny!"


	8. Wedding Part I

**WOW! Finally! I thought I would never finish this chapter (funny... I have the sensation that I have already said this before)! Sorry for taking so long to update, but I had tests at school. But soon... HOLIDAYS!!! I don't know exactly when students have holidays in USA, but here in Brazil we have holidays on the months of July, December and January. I might have more time to write this story. Oh, just something: I KNOW this chapter is a bit cliche... Alright, maybe A LOT cliche, but please, don't be so hard on me. And don't ask me why I made this chapter this way. I just felt like doing it. Review, please!**

* * *

Two weeks later, Anita already felt at home in the Court of the Miracles. She spent all day with Lynna and Adele, and sometimes Esmeralda joined them. They danced and had fun together, and Anita was even getting a little less shy. She was depending only on herself for the first time in her life, without her father holding her hand and doing everything for her, and she found that experience very nice, much to her surprise.

But, although she tried to hide it from her friends, she missed her father more than anything. She never said a word about this, but she thought of her father every minute. When she went to sleep, she allowed herself to cry a little, alone in her tent, where no one could see her tears. She felt a little childish for doing this, but she just couldn't help.

And she feared for her father's life. What if Phillip Bolder found him and killed him? She would never see him again… That was a possibility she didn't want to think of.

It didn't help much that Audrey and Camille kept giving her threatening glances. Anita always felt like the two girls were going to attack her at any moment. Like a child, she was always afraid of everything, although she tried to be brave. But Lynna and Adele were always there to help her.

Anita also spent a lot of time with José. They talked about everything, and José played the mandolin, and Anita and José's children, Sagira and Alejandro, sang. They always had fun together. Anita liked that part, because most songs they sang were in Spanish.

One day, the three girls were going back to the Court of the Miracles, after a day dancing in the streets, when they met Esmeralda. She looked very happy.

"Hello, Esmeralda!" said Adele, waving cheerfully. "Hey, why do you look so happy today? Something happened…"

"Uh? How did you guess?" Esmeralda said, looking surprised.

"I KNEW IT! Tell us, tell us, tell us!"

"Hey, calm down, Adele! I'll tell you… But not now" Esmeralda said, grinning.

"NOOO! You're evil!" Lynna exclaimed.

"Alright, alright, I'll tell you. I don't think I could keep this secret for too long, anyway. I'm too anxious" Esmeralda said. "Well, the reason why I'm so happy is… Phoebus asked me to marry him!"

Before Esmeralda could say anything else, Lynna and Adele hugged her, shouting.

"Finally!"

"I almost thought he would never ask!"

"When will you get married?"

"Have you already chosen the color of your dress?"

While Esmeralda tried to answer the questions the two young girls asked, Anita just watched and laughed quietly.

"Hey, Anita, won't you give me a hug too?" Esmeralda said.

"Ah, well, as we are not exactly close friends, I thought it would be quite rude if I hugged you" Anita said, shyly.

"Oh, Anita, please; you are not a stranger, you are our friend!" Lynna said, pulling Anita into their collective hug. After some moments, they separated, and while they walked back to the Court of the Miracles, Esmeralda told them everything about her marriage with Phoebus.

By the time they arrived at the Court, even Anita had gotten into the conversation. It was just too interesting for her to remain silent. She, Adele and Lynna made lots of questions, and Esmeralda _tried_ to answer all of them.

When Esmeralda announced her marriage in the Court, people couldn't talk about anything else. Some people didn't approve that Esmeralda married a gadje, but most gypsies were happy for her. Clopin approved, though a bit sadly; he loved Esmeralda as a sister, and after she married Phoebus she would go to live with him, leaving the Court. But Clopin was happy for Esmeralda too. He knew Phoebus was a good man, and that he loved Esmeralda and would make her happy.

The wedding would happen in two months. Everyone in the Court was helping to prepare the ceremony, which would happen in the Cathedral. Though most of the work was made by gypsy women, as there wasn't much men could do in a wedding but standing there during the ceremony, pretending to understand what is happening, when they are just thinking of the food that will be served after the wedding.

Anyway, everyone was excited about the marriage. Esmeralda and her wedding had become the priority of almost every gypsy in the Court. After a few days, the wedding gown started to be sewn – although Anita, Adele and Lynna only knew that because Anne, an older woman that was helping with the gown, told them. No one except the women that were making the dress and Esmeralda was allowed to see it. It made the three very curious, especially Adele, the most gossip of them.

* * *

_**A month later**_

Another month passed. Another month, and still her father hadn't come. Anita was starting to grow more worried everyday, but she tried to hide it. Sometimes she wanted to tell Lynna and Adele how she was feeling, but they were so happy because of Esmeralda's wedding, so Anita remained silent. After all, she didn't want to spoil their happiness.

Everything was going well, but Esmeralda was growing more nervous everyday, and so was Phoebus (the trio of friends sometimes met him in the street, and they used to talk a little).

One night, Adele, Lynna and Anita were in Anita's tent, talking about the marriage.

"Can gypsies marry in a church?" Lynna asked.

"I don't know. Who cares?" Adele said.

"I guess it was Frollo who didn't allow gypsies to marry in Notre Dame; now that he's gone, there must be no problem with that" Lynna continued.

"Who cares?" Adele repeated, not paying much attention.

"Maybe we should ask the Archdeacon about that? He must know all about this" Lynna continued, not listening to Adele.

"WHO CARES?" Adele shouted.

"ABOUT WHAT?" Lynna shouted back.

"ABOUT…" Adele started. "Uh… I forgot. What were you talking about?"

"If you didn't know what I was talking about, why were you saying 'who cares' all the time?"

"Who cares?" Adele teased.

"Who cares?" Lynna repeated.

"Who cares?" Anita said, smiling.

"Who cares?"

"Who cares?"

"Who cares?"

"WHO CARES?"

"WHO CARES?"

"WHO CARES?"

"WHY ARE WE SAYING THIS?" Lynna shouted.

"Because _I _was saying this" Adele answered.

"So what?"

"So what that _I_ am the leader, everybody knows that" Adele said, jokingly.

"Did you hear that, Anita?" Lynna said, laughing. "The silly one says she's our leader!"

"And what should we do with our leader?" Anita asked, grinning.

"We should make her happy, of course!" After saying that, Lynna jumped on Adele and started tickling her.

"No, no, no, stop it, stop it!" Adele screamed, laughing. "Anita, help me!" she pleaded.

"No, help _me_!" Lynna said.

"Sure!" Anita started to tickle Adele too, and they all were laughing scandalously when a voice interrupted them:

"Just what are you girls doing? People who listen from outside think that there is a war inside thins tent!"

It was Clopin. His voice sounded angry, but he was smiling, almost laughing. The three girls started to calm down and, still laughing, Lynna explained:

"We were just giving Adele a lesson!"

"Wait a minute!" Adele said, both angrily and happily. "You were trying to kill me, that's what you were doing! I almost died laughing! Clopin, there has been an attempt of murder here! You must do something!"

"You started" Anita said, grinning.

"No, YOU started" Adele said.

"ME?" Anita said, pointing to herself. "As a matter of fact, it seems to me that it was Lynna who started this whole thing."

"Who? Me? What did I do?"

"I can't remember anymore… You said something about Esmeralda's wedding, that's all I know" Adele confessed.

"Well, while you ladies decide who started this, could you please try to scream not so loudly? You three make a splendid chorus screaming and laughing together, but there are some people in the Court who don't appreciate good music" Clopin said sarcastically.

"Sure, captain" said Anita, beating salute. "We only need to… OOOOOOOOPSSSS!"

Anita stumbled on the small table in the center of the room, and would have gotten pretty hurt if Clopin hadn't caught her in time.

"Anita! Are you alright?" he asked.

Anita blinked twice, still in shock, and said:

"Yes, I guess…" she shook her head, and then started laughing hysterically. Lynna, Adele and Clopin stared at her for some seconds, and they also started laughing. When they were able to stop, Anita said:

"S-sorry… Sometimes I have a few hysterical crises, and just burst out laughing" she laughed again, but quietly. "Oh, Goodness, it was just too funny!"

"Well, I guess it's better that I go now, before you fall again, or I'm going to stay here forever, just laughing with you. Goodbye, girls" Clopin said, and went away.

"Goodbye" Anita said. Lynna was still laughing, but Adele seemed lost in thought.

"Adele? What's the matter?"

"Did you call me silly?"

"If I called you… Oh, Adele, but that minutes and minutes ago! Did you figure it out only now?"

"It doesn't matter – now it's your turn to learn a lesson!" Adele said, tickling Lynna.

"Hey – hey – hey, why me? Why not Anita?" Lynna asked, pointing to the silent girl.

"You're right… Why not Anita?" Adele said, already jumping on Anita.

'This is going to be a long night…' Anita thought, smiling and getting ready to defense herself from Adele and Lynna.

* * *

When the wedding day finally arrived, Esmeralda was more nervous than ever. The older women tried to calm her down, but it just didn't work. She sat in her tent, biting her nails, while another gypsy woman combed her thick hair. Or so Adele told Lynna and Anita. When Adele was the one revealing something, the two girls were never quite sure if they should believe.

The trio almost didn't see Esmeralda during the wedding preparations. She was always in a hurry, and didn't have time to talk to them. But the three girls were too curious to see Esmeralda's dress. So, on the wedding day, they went to Esmeralda's tent. A woman was at the door to make sure no one would enter. They started to beg:

"Please, please, please, please, please, please, PLEASE, Giselle, let us in!" Adele said, in a pleading tone.

"We want to see Esmeralda!" Lynna added.

"Sorry, girls, you can't" Giselle said. "She's getting ready for the ceremony."

"And why do you think we want to see her?" Adele said, annoyed.

"Forget it, girls. No one comes in" Giselle said, indifferent.

"Oh, please, Giselle, let us see Esmeralda!" said Anita, who until now had remained silent, in an innocent and childish tone, blinking her eyes quickly, several times followed. Seeing Giselle's expression soften a little, Lynna and Adele imitated her.

"Hmmm…" Giselle started, making the girls tense. "Alright, you may come in, but don't bother Esmeralda. She is nervous enough already."


	9. Wedding Part II

**YAY! I finished this chapter in time! Tomorrow I'm going to travel to Chile and I wanted to post this chapter before I went. So here it is. And, as I'm not sure if I am a good describer, I drawed Esmeralda dressed for the wedding and posted it on Deviantart. I can't put the link here, so try searching for Esmeralda. My username is Aryang. No work of art, but I guess it's enough to show what her dress looks like. Oh, just a Spanish word I put in this chapter: Madre means mother.**

**Merry Christmas (what am I saying? Christmas was a week ago) and a Happy New Year for everyone! And please review! **

* * *

The three girls stepped into the tent. At first, everything they could see was a mess of gypsy women walking around and purple and green fabric that made Esmeralda's tent. But, when they were able to see the center of the tent, they were delighted with a wonderful sight.

Esmeralda stood in the middle of the tent, and she looked absolutely dazzling. She wore an elegant red dress that left her shoulders bare, but she wore an almost transparent orange shawl, tied to her modest cleavage by an emerald and golden brooch. An orange ribbon was tied around her neck, and a big green scarf was tied around her waist. There were golden bracelets on her arms, and a golden earring on her left ear. On her head, there was a blue tiara with a green stone on it.

The trio just stared at her for some seconds, and then Lynna said:

"Esmeralda… You look… perfect…"

"PERFECT? She looks like a goddess!" Adele shouted, scaring everyone and making Djali, who was beside Esmeralda, jump and make a noise of surprise.

"Oh, thank you so much, girls" Esmeralda said, smiling. "I'm so happy you are here! How did you manage to convince Giselle to let you in? She doesn't even let me go out for a while!"

"And she is right" a voice said. Marise, an older woman who was helping Esmeralda to get ready, entered the tent. "You will get dirty if you go out."

"And how am I supposed to go to the church, if I can't even go out of my own tent?" Esmeralda asked, annoyed.

"You'll see. The greatest problem is how we are going to take you through the passages to the exit, but I have already thought of something." Marise placed a golden crown with a green transparent veil on Esmeralda's head, behind her tiara. "Now, you're ready" she said, smiling. She then turned to the three girls and said:

"Girls, I need you to do me a favor."

"What?" they asked.

"We need to take Esmeralda clean and beautiful to the church, and you know how dirty the streets of the Court and of Paris are. There will be a carriage out there to take Esmeralda to Notre Dame – financed by Phoebus, of course, but we'll have to help her arrive to the outside world without getting dirty."

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Anita asked.

"It's very simple; can you lend me your shoes, Anita?"

"Of course" Anita answered, taking off her shoes and giving them to Marise. She turned to Esmeralda and said:

"Now, dear, would you please put these shoes on?"

"Why?" Esmeralda said, not very happy with the idea of wearing shoes.

"Because you have to enter that church with your feet clean and beautiful, and Anita is the only one in this tent who has shoes about your feet size. I was going to make you wear mine, but Anita's shoes will fit you better" Marise explained.

"Just what difference will it make if her feet are clean or not? The skirt will cover them anyway" Adele said.

"I say she's going to have her feet clean in her wedding, and so will be" Marise said, finishing the discussion.

Esmeralda was very annoyed about wearing shoes; after all, she had walked with her feet bare her whole life! But Marise promised that, as soon as she entered the church, she would have permission to take the shoes off, so she agreed, still a bit annoyed. Djali made a low noise that sounded a bit like laughter, but stopped when Esmeralda glared at her.

"Now, girls, I need you to lift Esmeralda's skirt, so it won't get dirty" Marise said, and opened the tent's door. "Giselle! Please take Esmeralda's bouquet. Now, let's go!"

Giselle picked up a bouquet made of red roses yellow daisies and some beautiful green leaves with an orange ribbon tied around them.

Esmeralda stepped out of the tent, walking slowly, for two reasons: one, the three girls were lifting her skirt, two, she wasn't used to walk with shoes. And Anita's feet were a little smaller than Esmeralda's, especially because Anita had always worn shoes, and Esmeralda hadn't, so the black shoes hurt her feet a bit. The pain was making Esmeralda limp a little, but what could be done? The one who wants to be pretty has to suffer. Marise, Giselle and some other women walked beside them, Adele's mother between them, and Djali jumped around them and made happy noises.

The journey went slowly, and Esmeralda was getting more nervous every minute.

"Djali, will you stop that?" she said, angrily, when the goat started to pretend to limp, imitating Esmeralda.

They took about ten minutes to arrive to the outside world. When they did, they helped Esmeralda enter the carriage and went to the church walking, while the carriage took another way. Djali walked beside Adele, Lynna and Anita, the youngest girls of the group, and therefore the ones that most reminded the goat of its beloved owner.

"You know, I think I'm going to miss having Djali around" Anita commented, much to her own surprise, because she usually remained silent all the time and didn't share her opinions with the others. But it felt good to tell her friends how she was feeling. It was better than just hide her feelings inside her heart.

"Me too" Adele said, sighing. It was surprising to see how Adele looked sad, as she caressed the goat's neck. She always seemed so cheerful… But the sadness in Adele's eyes soon disappeared, and she said:

"Maybe we should get pets to call our own!"

Lynna and Anita stared at her for a moment in surprise, and smiled.

"You know, Adele, this is the first time you say something useful in the last few years!" Lynna said, jokingly.

"Thank you" Adele said, proudly. Then, realization hit her, and she made an angry face. "Hey! You just insulted me!"

"Goodness, you're getting better" Lynna said. "The last time, you took more than five minutes to figure out that I had called you silly." (A/N: See chapter eight, if it interests you.)

"You are mean!" Adele exclaimed.

"No, I'm sincere" corrected Lynna. "Remember when I told you that joke in December 31st and you only understood it on the day of the Feast of Fools?"

"I was seven years old!"

"You were eight."

"Seven."

"Eight."

"Seven."

"Eight."

"Seven!"

"Eight!"

"SEVEN!"

"YOU WERE EIGHT, Miss Adele, because I remember you were still boasting about how you were so much older than me, because I was still six" Lynna said.

Adele opened her mouth to answer, but said nothing. Anita just laughed quietly. Expressing her opinion was nice, but observing other people's actions and dialogues was much more entertaining.

'Perhaps' she thought, 'that's why I am so shy and quiet. I like to observe other people.' She looked up to the cloudless, sunny sky, and said, almost in a whisper: "Madre, I have discovered something else about myself. Papa will be happy to know about that."

* * *

After some minutes of walking, they arrived at Notre Dame. Esmeralda's carriage was stopped on a street right beside the church, but still hidden, as planned.

Marise, Miriam and Giselle were very displeased to see Phoebus at the entrance of the church, looking nervous, with his armour shining more than ever.

"Monsier de Châteaupeurs! What the heck are you doing here? You should be inside the church!" Miriam exclaimed.

"I know, I know, I was just too anxious to wait there, so I came here" he said, sounding hopeless. "Where's Esmeralda? Did something happen? Is she alright? Did she give up about marrying me?" he asked, nervously.

"Stop, stop!" Marise interrupted him. "Esmeralda won't come until you go back inside the church!"

"But why?"

"Because, if you see her dressed for the wedding _before_ the wedding, it will be a disaster!"

"WHY?"

"Because it will spoil the surprise!"

"_And_ I've heard it means bad lucky" Anita said.

"It doesn't matter, I'm worried about Esmeralda and I – " he was cut off by Adele:

"Let's make a deal, my friend: you go inside that church _now_, and I _won't_ cut you into pieces!"

_That _scared Phoebus. He bit his lower lip, and said:

"When a lady puts it in such delicate terms, how can I disagree?" He entered the church, not without looking around the square, trying to see any sign of Esmeralda.

"Finally" muttered Adele.

"I had thought that it could happen" Marise said. "That's why I told the carriage driver to wait on that corner. If Phoebus saw the carriage coming, he would try to see Esmeralda, and that would not be nice."

They approached the carriage, and the driver, who was standing beside the two big brown horses, opened the door, revealing a very nervous Esmeralda. She was biting her lower lip, looking down to her feet, her sweaty hands holding tight the green cloth of her dress.

"Esmeralda! Stop that! You'll crease your dress!" Miriam exclaimed, slapping lightly Esmeralda's hands. "Now let's go, we have to get into that church before that annoying fiancé of yours comes out again."

She pulled Esmeralda's arm, but the beautiful gypsy didn't move.

"Come on, Esmeralda, Phoebus is waiting for you" Lynna said.

Esmeralda looked out of the carriage's window, took a deep breath and stepped out of the carriage. She looked even more dazzling in the sunlight. She looked around for a moment, and then smiled. She looked like she was almost crying, but she laughed instead.

"Thank you so much, my friends" Esmeralda said, obviously moved. "I wouldn't be here today without your help."

"It's nothing, my dear" Marise said, smiling sincerely. "Now let's go to the church, I don't want you to get sweated on your wedding day!"

They all went to the church, Lynna, Anita and Adele lifting Esmeralda's skirt. They entered by the side door, so Esmeralda could check her appearance. When they arrived there, the Archdeacon was waiting for them.

"God bless you, my child" he said. "I'm happy you arrived. Your fiancé is very anxious." With that, he returned to the altar room.

Esmeralda looked at herself in a mirror Miriam had brought with her. Giselle helped her put some makeup on. They were almost finished with that task, when the Archdeacon came in.

"There's someone who wants to see you, my child" he said.

"It's not that Phoebus again, is it?" Adele said, and her voice echoed in the walls. She wasn't used to the church's acoustics, so she spoke louder than she should. Lynna and Anita glared at her and whispered together:

"Adele!"

"Sorry!" said the brown haired girl. The Archdeacon stared at them for a moment, smiling gently, and thinking: 'Youth…'

"Well, it's not 'that Phoebus again'" he said, as Clopin came in.

"Esmeralda" he said, "Who'd have thought that that small and skinny girl you were years and years ago would become a beautiful woman, ready to get married?"

"I'll take that as a compliment, thanks" she said. After a moment, she hugged him.

"Thank you for being with me today. And all the days you've spent with me, my friend."

"You're like a sister to me. Of course I would be here today with you."

Adele rubbed her right eye and looked away, but Anita noticed that:

"Adele… Are you crying?"

"M-me? Crying? Of course not, the sun must have affected your mind" Adele said, annoyed. Anita simply smiled.

"Well… Now's the time. Just go there, look pretty and don't stumble on your skirt" Clopin said, trying not to cry.

"Ha, ha, ha, you're so funny" Esmeralda said sarcastically. "Hey, speaking of stumble, Anita, I'm still wearing your shoes." She walked towards Anita and took of the black shoes. "I'm not sure if I should thank you for lending me them or be mad at you for making my poor feet suffer, but I guess I can blame Marise for that" she said, glancing at Marise. "Thank you, girls" Esmeralda hugged the trio, and turned around.

"Well, I guess I should go to the front doors of the church now" she said.

"Yes, that's right" Miriam said, wiping a tear away. Suddenly, she turned to Clopin, like if she had suddenly noticed he was there.

"Clopin, what are you still doing here? Go back to that altar room right now, and don't you dare to say a word about Esmeralda's dress to Phoebus!"

"Like if I understood anything about dresses" he commented, but left of the room.

Esmeralda looked at herself in the mirror one more time to check if her tiara was in the right place, when a voice said:

"May I come in?"

All the women in the room turned their heads to see who had said that.

It was Quasimodo, who stood at the door hesitantly. Anita, of course, didn't know who he was, but she thought that, although he was a bit deformed, he had a kind and gentle look on his eyes and a peaceful aura. Esmeralda smiled at him.

"Of course, Quasimodo. You are always welcome between us."

He entered the room and walked towards Esmeralda. He took her hands on his and said:

"Congratulations, Esmeralda. I hope you will be very happy."

"I will, my friend" she said, hugging him. "I want you to meet someone."

She led him between the gypsies, until she found Anita and her friends.

"This is Anita, she came to the Court about two months ago" Esmeralda explained. "And you remember Adele and Lynna, don't you?"

"Of course" he replied. "Hello, girls. It's a pleasure to meet you, Anita."

"It's nice to meet you too, Quasimodo. Esmeralda talks so highly about you" she said, smiling.

"Well, well, well, enough greetings. We have to go on with this marriage before Phoebus decides to kidnap the bride" Miriam said.

"Alright. I'll go to the altar room. After the wedding, I'll ring the bells especially for you, Esmeralda!" Quasimodo said, leaving the room.

"Now, everybody go. I'll take Esmeralda to the front doors and soon I'll join you" said Marise.

They all went to the altar room, only to see that there were no empty seats anymore. Some people were standing here and there in the room, and they did the same.

Anita, Lynna and Adele were there for some seconds, when suddenly Adele said, impatiently, but in a low tone:

"How long should we wait before this ceremony begins?"

"Adele, we're waiting for less than a minute" Anita said, calmly.

But, inside, Anita was anxious too. She had never attended a wedding, and until now she found the experience was quite nice. She just didn't want to sound too childish or too weird by telling her friends her feelings and emotions. She tried, but sometimes it was useless. She just wasn't as open as Adele, for example.

'Well, it doesn't matter now' she thought, 'maybe someday I'll be able to share my feelings and opinions with other people.'

She turned her head when she heard music playing; the bride was ready and the wedding was about to start.


	10. Wooden Shells And Fire

**Lol, it's been a long time. But school is back, and guess what? I'm having tests next week (_again_). And I thought I had too much homework last year. I promise I'll try to update sooner next time. Little cliffhanger in the end of this chapter.**

**Note: there are a few P.O.V. switches in this chapter. But very few. In fact, only one.**

**I don't own The Hunchback Of Notre Dame.**

**Reviews and contructive critcism are much appreciated.**

* * *

"And now you may kiss the bride" the Archdeacon said.

Esmeralda had never smiled as brightly as in that moment, nor had Phoebus been as relieved as he was in the instant he gently kissed Esmeralda's lips. Until she was safely beside him in front of the altar, he had been dripping on sweat, thinking, without any reason at all, that at any second someone would enter the room and inform that Esmeralda didn't want him anymore (the fact that Clopin kept telling him stories about grooms who had been abandoned in the altar by their stunningly beautiful brides – "like Esmeralda", Clopin had added – , didn't help much).

"Finally, I thought this would never end" Adele commented, losing a great chance to remain quiet. Lynna and Anita wanted to reprimand Adele for her bad manners (Lynna would have done anything to start a discussion with Adele), but they were too tired from standing in the middle of lots of people for so long, so they just rolled their eyes.

Esmeralda and Phoebus left the church smiling, Djali walking behind them looking very proud of herself without any reason at all, and soon the rest of the people did the same (leave the church, not look proud for no reason).

"What happens now?" Lynna asked.

"Giselle told me that we must go back to the Court. In one hour or so, there will be a party there. Only gypsies, of course" Adele informed.

"And what about Phoebus? Will he be allowed to see the entrance of the Court of the Miracles?" Anita asked.

"Giselle said she had already planned that. Though what she's going to do to bring Phoebus to the Court is beyond me. Anyway, let's just go and leave the hard work for her; my feet are killing me."

* * *

The three girls went to Adele's tent, but soon her mother came in and the girls wanted some privacy, so they went to Anita's tent.

"Goodness, my feet hurt" Adele complained. "And I don't wear any shoes. Don't you feel pain with these things, Anita? Esmeralda seemed to be very uncomfortable with them."

"Well, I am used to wear shoes" Anita replied. "But sometimes they do hurt my feet a little." With that, she took off her shoes and showed her friends some blisters and injuries on her feet.

"Ouch! This makes me feel pain only by looking!" Lynna said, caressing her own feet. She wore shoes made of pieces of cloth, that didn't hurt her feet a single bit. She only wore them because she didn't like having her feet dirty.

"How did your feet get so hurt?" Adele asked.

"It's from dancing. And I wear the same pair of shoes since I was… ten, I guess."

Their conversation soon changed to another subject. They discussed about Esmeralda's dress, about dresses, about the colors they liked… After half an hour, Adele started fighting with Lynna and Anita just watched them. She thought about everything they had just talked about, and was surprised that they had kept talking so long about those silly things without even getting bored. She was a person who hadn't experienced female friendship in her life – all the children the same age as her in the gypsy group she and her father travelled with were boys. She wasn't used to chat about girlish things with girls about her age, and doing that made her feel at the same time foolish and happy.

"And I think you should go and tell her how annoying she is!" Adele shouted to Lynna – not that she intended to shout, she just couldn't control the volume of her voice sometimes.

Anita sighed. One thing she really envied in Adele was her facility to show her feelings. If she thought something was wrong, she said what she thought. If she didn't like something or someone, she didn't find any trouble to say that out loud. Sometimes, Anita wished she was a bit like Adele. She was always so confident…

"Don't you agree, Anita?" Adele's voice interrupted her thoughts.

Anita blinked twice, trying to find something intelligent to say to escape that situation, but she found nothing.

"I'm sorry, Adele. What were you saying?"

"You are too distracted, girl" Adele said, rolling her eyes. "Lynna and I were talking about that girl Hélène; she keeps asking Lynna to help her with all sorts of things all day long, and Lynna is annoyed!"

"Yes, I am, but I don't want to be rude with her" Lynna explained.

They argued about that and about other silly things, when Adele's mother came in and announced that the party was about to begin.

When they stepped out of the tent, there were lots of people everywhere.

"I think this is going to be good" Lynna commented, before entering Anita's tent to check herself in the mirror one more time. She ran her fingers through her hair and joined Adele and Anita.

"But I can't see Phoebus or Esmeralda" Adele said.

* * *

_**Meanwhile…**_

"This is ridiculous. Why do I have to walk around blindfolded?"

"Merely precaution."

Phoebus was walking in an empty street and Giselle was leading him. He couldn't see anything through the piece of cloth tied around his head. Had anyone passed in that street that day, they would have seen a hilarious scene: the captain of the guard, all dressed in his uniform, walking blindfolded like a child playing blind man's bluff.

"You know, I have already been in the Court of the Miracles. I mean no danger for anyone."

"And that's another reason to blindfold you; this way, you will continue to mean no danger for anyone. Now stay quiet and wait a minute."

Phoebus heard a noise that sounded like a stone being pressed against another, and one moment later he was pushed forward.

And the floor disappeared beneath his feet.

* * *

**Back to Anita's P.O.V.**

In the square near the stage where the hangings happen, there was a bonfire, and some gypsy women were dancing while men played music.

The three girls sat and watched for a while, but soon the music stopped. They looked around to see what was happening, and soon they saw it: Esmeralda was entering the Court, with all the splendor of a queen. Her red dress floated around her as she walked, and her eyes sparkled as she smiled.

Some people started to greet Esmeralda, when Phoebus appeared, looking very annoyed and somewhat confused. He walked to Esmeralda, but then lost his balance and had to put a hand on Esmeralda's shoulder to avoid falling.

Adele laughed quietly at the sight, and Anita and Lynna just smiled. Esmeralda made a weird face as she talked to Phoebus, and he answered looking VERY annoyed, pointing to Giselle, who made an innocent face and walked away.

Esmeralda shook her head about something Phoebus had said, and approached the bonfire.

"Now, ladies, if you would be so kind, now it's my turn." In a quick movement, she took off the golden tiara that held her veil and threw it to Marise (who was watching the other dancers all the time). The older woman grabbed it, a bit surprised. Esmeralda got a tambourine out of nowhere, and started dancing.

Soon, everyone who had an instrument started playing it, as Esmeralda danced around the fire. The flames seemed to dance with her as she made gracious movements, lifting her legs and moving her arms around her head.

After ten minutes, almost the whole Court was watching, clapping, playing instruments and singing. Some gypsy girls started to dance shyly around Esmeralda, and she gave them an encouraging smile.

More than one hour passed this way (of course Esmeralda had to stop dancing once in a while to rest a little and eat something), until Esmeralda got too tired and decided to sit with her husband and rest. The rest of the gypsy girls, the ones who were dancing and the ones who were just watching, started to dance together around the fire.

Anita danced with Adele for a long time, and Lynna joined them reluctantly after playing flute (which she returned to do ten minutes later). All the Court was celebrating together (after all, it was not everyday that a gypsy married a soldier, especially one as loved between the gypsies as Esmeralda). Anita had never seen so many cheerful people in one place, and she thought it was amazing.

After dancing without stopping for so long, Anita started to feel and show signs of a great tiredness; her face and neck were sweaty and red, her hair was releasing itself from the purple ribbon, her fingers ached from playing the castanets, and her throat was dry, and though she tried to swallow saliva to bear that feeling of unending thirsty, it only made her throat ache and feel drier, making her feel like she had a sore throat. She glanced at Lynna, trying not to get distracted from her dance, and saw that her face was red, and noticed she was starting to play some notes out of tune.

On the other hand, Adele didn't look tired at all; her face was red and covered with sweat (much more than Anita – in fact, it was as though she had just washed her face and not dried it), but she still was able to dance lively.

Anita felt it was about time to end their dance and, winking at Adele (it was their sign to stop the dance), she played the castanets one last time before sitting on the floor, one of her legs bended and the other one stretched, one of her arms upon her head and the other one resting on her lap. Adele twirled one more time before tapping her tambourine and kneeling down beside Anita.

The people who were watching them clapped and started to watch the other dancing girls. Anita immediately went to the well in an empty square next to where the party was happening and got some water with the bucket. She used her hands as a ladle to drink, and soon Adele and Lynna reached her and started doing the same thing. There was another bonfire beside the well, a smaller one, and the heat of the fire made them sweat, and drink even faster.

"Look at that, Audrey. Drinking like a bunch of savages", a voice behind them said.

Anita instinctively recognized the voice, although she hadn't heard it in many weeks. It was obviously Camille with Audrey.

"What do you want, Camille?" Lynna asked, crossing her arms on her chest, annoyed.

"And these castanets, huh, Anita?" Camille said, ignoring Lynna and approaching the scared girl. "Would you mind if… We took a look at them?"

With that, fast as lightning, Camille took the castanets from Anita's unprepared hands, and threw them at Audrey. The red headed grinned maliciously as she got the wooden shells and tried to play them, making an annoying sound, imitating Anita in a ridiculous way.

"Hey! Give it back!" Anita shouted, trying to get the castanets from Audrey. The girl just laughed and threw the instrument to her friend.

"Stop it! It's mine!" Anita was jumping around the two girls and shouting very pathetically, and so were Lynna and Adele, all three trying to get the castanets back.

It was useless. Audrey and Camille were too good in that game. But no as good as they thought, because when Camille threw the castanets to Audrey one more time, laughing a rather forced laughter, Audrey clasped her hands in the air, but missed the wooden shells.

And, accidentally, Camille had sent the precious object towards the fire.


	11. The one who brings good luck

Every second seemed to last an age. Anita saw Camille and Audrey's surprised faces, and Lynna and Adele's, both angry and surprised. But she didn't really interpret their expressions at that moment; she would only think of what she saw and did some time later. The only thing she really cared about then was her castanets flying towards the fire. The fire, at that moment, looked like an evil spirit that wanted to destroy all her hopes of happiness. Anita didn't know why she thought that, nor how she had enough time to imagine all those things. The only thing she was really conscious of was that her most precious belonging was about to be lost forever, and she couldn't let that happen. Everything else was a blur.

The next thing she knew, she was jumping towards the fire in order to recover her castanets. Every notion about fire being a dangerous thing vanished from her mind. She acted instinctively.

Until that moment, everything was clear; since then, all she could remember was a desperate sensation in her heart, the fire getting closer, the heat around her getting stronger and dangerous, and a terrible burning sensation on her fingers, all that mixed with dizziness.

Then, everything was clear again. She heard Adele and Lynna shouting her name, and Camille and Audrey gasping in fear.

Adele and Lynna ran to her and pulled her backwards. She couldn't understand all the words that came out of Adele and Lynna's mouths, but she understood some words like "fire", "hair" and "water". Then, her feverish forehead felt the freshness of cold water, and she started to visualize things better, like if she had just awoken from a bad dream.

"Anita… Are you alright?" she heard someone say, and recognized Adele's voice. She blinked a few times, and her blurred vision was focused. She saw Adele and Lynna looking at her with worried expressions.

She tried to say something, but then she felt something plain against her left hand; when she looked at it, she saw it was one of her castanets. She was relieved for a second, but then exclaimed:

"Where is the other one?", and she started to look frenetically for it. Her eyes were wide and sparkling with madness. She soon found the other castanet on the other side of the bonfire, and ran to it on her hands and knees, like an animal. When she tried to grab the castanet, she felt a painful sensation in her hand, and released it immediately. She finally noticed that the rope that held the two wooden halves of the instrument together were on fire. She desperately spit on the castanet and covered it with her skirt, trying to put the fire out. To her relief, soon the tiny flame disappeared.

Anita took a deep breath, and then realized how tired she was. She let her body fall on the ground beside the fire and lay there, holding the castanets against her chest, her eyes closed.

"Anita! Anita, wake up!" Lynna shouted, while shaking Anita's body. She slowly opened her eyes, and said, weakly, "What happened?"

"Your castanets were going straight to hell, and you jumped to the fire to get them." Adele said, hesitantly.

"Oh really?" Anita said, sarcastically. "I know that part. What happened _after_ that?"

"Well… You grabbed one castanet, but your fingers touched the fire" Lynna explained. Anita looked at her hands. The right hand was unharmed, except for a small red mark in the middle of her palm, but her left hand was pretty injured. The points of her fingers were in lively flesh, and the back of her hand was also burned. And man, it _hurt_.

"What's the matter in here?" a voice said, and Anita did not recognize it instantly, though it was pretty familiar. She tried to stand up, but she felt dizzy. Instantly, Adele and Lynna put her arms around their necks to help her, and she saw Clopin standing next to Audrey and Camille. And he looked _very_ angry. By that time, there were a few people watching them and whispering.

"What was all this shouting about? It's Esmeralda's wedding today, and you are _fighting_?" he said, in a high voice volume, but not screaming. Anita wanted to explain, but she felt too tired to do so. Clopin noticed she wasn't alright, so he looked to Camille and Audrey. They opened their mouths to say something, but they couldn't form understandable phrases. Then Lynna spoke.

"Clopin, I know what this must look like, and that it's not nice to fight in Esmeralda's wedding, but it was… unavoidable" she said, lacking a better word.

"Yes! And it was all Camille and Audrey's fault!" shouted Adele, pointing to the two girls and almost dropping Anita's arm.

Clopin stared at the girls, one by one, but, as no one said a word, he asked:

"What's wrong with Anita? She looks like she's going to fade."

Lynna and Adele looked at each other, and Lynna said: "She had a little… Accident with the fire."

What Lynna and Adele hadn't realized was that, by that moment, Anita was much more lucid. And she remembered… She remembered Camille throwing her castanets to the fire, and that was all. Anita may was lucid, but still not thinking as clearly as she would in normal circumstances. Suddenly, she felt a terrible urge to do something bad to Camille. She wanted to hurt her just as much as she had been hurt. Possessed by an anger she had never felt before, she released her arms from Adele and Lynna's grip and walked towards the two still shocked girls.

"You!" she shouted, pointing a finger at Camille, holding her castanets in her left hand. Her fingers ached and burned, but she didn't care. "How… How dare you do such a thing?" Anita tried to find something very offensive to say, but she found nothing in her limited vocabulary. She mentally reprimanded herself for sounding so pathetic, but Camille said nothing. Anita attributed that to Camille's shock, and went on, this time not thinking much about what she was saying,

"Do you think you have the right to make fun of other people's pain? Do you think you are above everyone else? I'll tell you something, YOU'RE NOT!"

Anita's face was red and sweaty from anger and from the heat of the fire. She bared her teeth like a wild beast and looked ready to jump on Camille's neck. That thought crossed her mind for a moment, but she soon put it aside, feeling too coward to do such a violent thing. She made a very angry face, to conceal her fear, and went on:

"Are you aware that you almost destroyed my most precious belonging? The only thing I have to get money honestly? Of course you are, you just don't care, you don't care about anything besides yourself!"

"Anita…" Camille said, almost whispering.

This was the fuse of Anita's rage. In her insensible mind, Camille had no right to say anything for herself. And the next thing she knew, she was slapping Camille hard on the face.

Everything was too quickly for Anita to realize what she was doing. She did what she did for impulse, and at that moment it didn't seem wrong to do that. She was right, Camille was wrong. Her rage wouldn't allow her to see things in any other way. So, making an angry noise, she left the place.

* * *

Anita was sitting on the floor on an empty alley of the Court, her head on her knees. Her face was red from crying, her hair and shirt were wet, and her hands ached. She could hear music playing in a distant place, but she did not pay any attention to it. All she could think of was what she had just done. Now that she had stopped and cried and thought more sensibly about what happened, she regretted what she had done. She had _never_ slapped anyone, or been violent to anyone in any way.

She knew Camille hadn't meant to throw her castanets to the fire. It had been an accident. But still, she couldn't help but have a grudge against her. The girl hadn't done another thing to her but been rude.

Now her head ached too. All those thoughts confused her, and she felt her life had never been so complicated. Suddenly, she wished her father was there to hold her and tell her everything was alright. But her father wasn't there – and she wasn't sure she would ever be with him again –, and everything was not alright.

_Damn it_, she thought. Suddenly, she could almost hear her father's voice saying, _Don't swear_. But she couldn't help it. One _has_ to swear once in a while, and if she didn't say a bad word at that moment, she would go mad. And she had to learn to deal with things without her father.

She got a lock of her hair and started to chew it. It was a habit she had since she was a child; whenever she was nervous, she put her hair in her mouth and chewed it. She knew it was a disgusting thing to do, but she couldn't help it. It was addictive! Annoyingly addictive, but she just couldn't get rid of it.

"Anita" a voice said.

She looked up, upset. It was Clopin. His face was expressionless. He sat down beside her, and she looked down to her knees. She didn't want to face him after all the scandal she had made, but she also wanted to hide her face, red from shame. She felt her heart beat faster, nervously.

_I must look pathetic_, she thought. _Sitting alone on the floor, crying, and_ _chewing my own hair_._ Things can't get any worse_.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Are you alright? _Are you alright, Anita?_, she asked herself. How does one answer this question? She wasn't alright, that was a certain thing. But when someone asks you if you are alright, you are supposed to answer positively, even if you are not.

"Yes" she simply said.

"Really?" he insisted.

She considered the question for a moment, trying to find a good answer to reinforce her last point, but she couldn't find anything.

"No" she said at last, sighing. She was the worst liar in the world. She couldn't tell a lie and make it last long even to save her life.

"I knew it" he said, smiling lightly. "Adele and Lynna told me what happened. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No" she answered. She didn't want to give him such short and unfriendly answers, but she didn't feel like elaborating good phrases at that moment. They remained in silence for some seconds, and then he said:

"It's alright to feel angry, Anita. One can't be calm and patient all the time."

"I know." That was the largest phrase she had said in all their conversation so far.

"Let me have a look at your hands" he said, after a moment of silence. She reached out her hand to him, without saying a word. When he touched the burned skin, she made a painful noise and started to shake her other hand.

"This is pretty injured" he said. "I'll take you to Old Panya. She is the best medicine woman in the Court. She will be able to do something about it."

Without another word, he grabbed her arm and led her through empty, dark passages, until they arrived to an almost empty part of the principal square. Anita could see people dancing beyond the colourful tents, but only briefly. Clopin soon led her into a blue tent.

Inside the tent, there was a woman with long grey hair falling down her back sitting by a table with lots of cups on it. There were ceramic pots everywhere, and a strange smell filled the air. There was also a chair and some brown and red cushions on the floor.

The woman didn't show any surprise when they entered so suddenly; she merely lifted up her black eyes and stared at them for some seconds. Then, she spoke.

"I didn't expect anyone to come here tonight, Clopin. Maybe tomorrow, I had some hopes that men would come and ask for help with their hangovers, but receiving people here in the middle of a party is quite surprising."

"Anita had an accident with a bonfire" Clopin explained. "Her hands are injured. Could you have a look at them?"

The woman – Old Panya – made a gesture with her hand, indicating the chair. Anita sat down and placed her castanets, which she was still holding with her good hand, on her lap. Panya took her hands and examined them. Anita noticed that, though Panya's hands were rough, they were somewhat gentle.

"Oh, that looks bad. Haven't your parents told you never to play with fire, girl?"

Old Panya didn't wait for an answer. She went to the table and got one of the cups. She then got three pots, and mixed their contents in the cup. The result was a strange smelling and looking liquid. Panya got a piece of cloth and carefully put it into the cup. She approached Anita with the wet cloth and, without any warning, pressed the cloth against her burned skin.

"Ahhh… Aaaaaiiiiii!" Anita exclaimed, writhing. The strange liquid sent a shiver through her whole body, and it _burned_. She wanted to scream out loud, but she bit her lower lip and started to move her legs beneath her skirt. The pain was unbearable! Panya did not show any signs of pity, but Clopin looked a bit scared himself.

"Hmmm… Your hand is pretty injured, little one. You'll have to take a rest from any work you do with your hands" Panya said.

"Oh, great" Anita exclaimed, disappointed. That meant no playing castanets. Panya wrapped some bandages around her hurt hand and said:

"You'll have to use this bandage for some time. Two weeks, at least."

* * *

Clopin took Anita to Lynna and Adele. He had helped her as a friend and as a king, but she needed her closest friends.

"How do you feel, Anita?" Lynna asked, putting an arm around her friend's shoulder.

"Tired" she answered. "Not tired like if I wanted to go to sleep, just… tired."

"Anita… Can I give you some advice?" Lynna asked. Anita nodded, not paying much attention.

"I think you should talk with Camille about what happened."

Anita turned her head quickly, a surprised expression on her face. Now her attention was completely focused on Lynna's words.

"What?" she said, and realized Adele had said the same thing almost at the same time.

"I know you must be mad at her by now, but this cannot go on the way it is" Lynna explained quickly. "You two have to find a way to live in peace."

As always, Lynna was right. Even Adele seemed to agree with her now, by the look on her face. Deep inside, Anita knew she had overreacted – after all, it hadn't been Camille's intention to almost destroy Anita's precious castanets. Anita was wrong, and she knew it. But she did not want to admit that to Lynna and Adele. Much less to Clopin.

"Anita?" Adele asked, after a few seconds.

"What?" grumbled Anita.

"Are you going to apologize to Camille?"

"Why should I? _She _was the one who threw my castanets to the fire."

"I know you ladies did not ask my opinion" said Clopin, "but I think it would be better if you and Camille could live in peace. But that won't happen unless one of you takes the first step."

Anita sighed. She felt like a child being reprimanded by its parents. Worse, they were right and she was wrong. It is difficult to prove yourself right when not even you believe you are right.

"You are right" Anita said after a pause, and choose her next words carefully, trying to sound like a grown up. "I guess I'll have to swallow my pride and apologize. I shouldn't have slapped Camille."

"That's our little Anita" Adele exclaimed, hugging Anita and stroking her hair. Clopin smiled, looking pleased at how things were developing.

* * *

Adele and Lynna took Anita to the square. Clopin came with them, to assure everything would be resolved. People were still celebrating, though now most of them were sitting by the fire and eating. A few girls were dancing. Anita spotted Esmeralda sitting beside Phoebus, a peaceful smile on her face.

_They know nothing about what happened, then_, Anita thought, relieved.

When she turned her head to look forward, she saw Camille staring at the floor and Audrey beside her, with a hand on her friend's shoulder. They were distant from them, and could not see them. Adele pushed Anita towards the two girls, while saying:

"You can do it."

Anita approached the two girls, hesitantly, and stopped in the middle of the way. Should she apologize to such a rude girl who cared about nothing else? Was the humiliation worthy it? She turned around and looked at her friends and Clopin. Lynna and Adele made a gesture indicating that she should go ahead. Clopin gave her an encouraging smile. Again she felt her heart pounding in her chest, which she attributed to nervousness.

_I have to stay calm_, she told herself.

"Camille?" she said at last.

The girl looked up. Anita noticed, very surprised, that Camille looked like she had been crying. Camille opened her mouth to say something, but Anita spoke first, before she lost her will to apologize.

"I'm-sorry-for-slapping-you-I-shouldn't-have-done-that" she said quickly. Camille and Audrey stared at her in shock for a few moments.

"In fact, I believe _we_ should be the ones apologizing" Audrey said. "We are… _really_ sorry we did that to you."

"You _are_?" Anita asked, not expecting them to be so easily convinced of their mistake.

"Yes" Camille said, avoiding looking into Anita's eyes. "We didn't want to, you know, destroy your castanets, it was just… a little joke. We didn't think it would end up like that."

Silence.

"Well, I guess we don't need to be friends, but we also don't need to be enemies, do we?" Audrey said, offering Anita her hand. Both Camille and Anita stared at her, shocked. Anita had never thought Audrey was so mature.

After a moment, Camille seemed to agree with her friend. "It's true, Anita" she said, also offering her hand. Anita stared at the two hands, unsure of what to do, and in the end she shook the hands of both, each one with one hand. They smiled.

"So, I guess that's it, huh? Not enemies anymore, living in peace – let's go, Audrey?" Camille said. It was obvious she didn't know how to handle that situation. The two of them went away. Anita went back to her friends.

"So? How did it go?" Adele asked.

"They were so…" Anita started, unsure of what to say.

"So what?" Lynna asked.

"…so nice to me" Anita completed. She couldn't believe Camille and Audrey had been so willing to apologize to her.

"They are not so bad" Clopin said, grinning briefly.

"No, they are not…" Anita said. She looked completely dumb.

"Well, I will leave you ladies now; I have some things to do and I am sure you have particular things to discuss." And with that, he left.

Anita couldn't help but feel a bit idiotic when she thought that, if only she had tried to talk with Audrey and Camille, things could have turned out differently.

"Hey, don't be so sad" Adele said, noticing her friend's mournful expression. "Lynna and I were planning on going to the market tomorrow, what do you think?"

"To do what in the market?" Anita asked.

"You remember that idea of Adele's about we having our own pets?" Lynna said. "Well, we think that it's actually a _good_ idea, so we're going to see if there are any cheap animals to buy. We can also look for some jewellery."

"That's nice" Anita said, not very cheerfully. She didn't feel much like going to the market to look for animals. But Adele and Lynna looked at her with the same expression they looked at Giselle that morning to make her allow them into Esmeralda's tent. They looked so funny with those puppy-like looks on their faces that Anita burst out laughing.

"Alright, I'll come with you" she said at last.

* * *

The three of them woke up late on the next day. They were tired after the party and the accident with the fire, so they allowed themselves to sleep until two o'clock in the afternoon (it is no surprise they slept for so long, since they only went to sleep at three o'clock in the morning). When they finally managed to get up and go outside, they went to the market.

They walked down the street, hand in hand, to avoid getting lost. There was so much noise in the market that they could barely hear each other's voices when they spoke, so they gave up communicating. Anita was carrying a basket to put anything they would buy there.

Adele soon noticed a gypsy man selling some beautiful things displayed on a colourful carpet on the floor. They approached, and after talking with the man for a while, they discovered that his name was Dino, that he was Italian and that he travelled around the world buying and selling things. They tried on some scarves, some jewellery, and in the end each of them bought something. Anita bought a golden bracelet with a green stone on it. Lynna bought a necklace that consisted on a leather rope with a blue stone pendant. Adele bought a red and yellow scarf.

Lynna noticed that there were some eggs on the carpet, resting in a colourful scarf, and asked what those were. He explained that those were some eggs he had found in an abandoned nest in a forest while coming to Paris.

"Though I don't think I'll sell any of these eggs" he said. "I have no idea of what kind of bird produced these eggs."

Adele looked at the eggs, thoughtfully.

"How much do you want for one of these eggs?" she suddenly asked. Dino looked at her with a look of disbelief, and said:

"Well, I guess it's not fair to demand money for eggs I don't know whether they have birds inside, or if they are good to eat. Take one for free."

Adele was impressed for the man's honesty, and chose one of the eggs. She put her new scarf in the basket and placed the egg in the middle of it carefully, to make the basket be as close as possible to a nest. The girls bid Dino goodbye and went back to their journey.

After a while, their feet were aching and their patience was coming to an end.

"I'm tired, let's stop and eat something" Adele exclaimed.

They bought some bread in the bakery and sat on a street corner to rest. Glancing around, Anita saw a fat woman trying to bring together some hens, chicks and chickens, failing miserably; as soon as she managed to get all the hens, chickens and chicks reunited in one place, one of the little chicks ran away to eat some bread crumbs in the street. All the other chicks followed him and, of course, their mother went after them, and the mess was formed.

Anita noticed that one of the animals, a male chicken, with light brown feathers and a small thin body, kept walking around trying to cluck loudly. But everything he managed to do was produce some very strange noises. Anita chuckled. One would say the poor chicken was dancing.

The fat woman noticed the chicken too, and tried to grab it. But when she reached out her hands, the chicken jumped and started to run in circles like a mad thing. The woman continued to persecute him, and he started to try to fly away. He jumped, flapped his wings, floated in the air for some seconds, and landed. And the woman kept running and jumping and swearing after him.

This crazy race continued for some minutes, and Anita started to pity the chick when the woman threatened to cook him and use his blood as sauce. Without thinking, she stood up and went to the woman.

"How much do you want for that chicken?" she asked, pointing to the bird.

The woman looked at her with a look of disbelief on her face, and said:

"Are you sure you want to pay for that… thing?"

Anita nodded. The woman stared at her in disbelief, but gave a prize for the chicken. Anita looked into her bag, and was glad to find that she had enough money. She handed the woman a few silver coins, and turned to face the chicken. He was still running in circles, though now he didn't look so desperate – it was more likely he was doing that for _fun_. Anita chuckled, and, as fast as she could, grabbed the chicken. He was so distracted by his running game that he didn't have a chance of escaping. He immediately grew desperate and started trying to get rid of Anita's arms, which held him delicately, but firmly. She pressed him against her chest, while he struggled. He pecked her arms, but she didn't let go. After a while, she started caressing the chicken's feathers with one hand. He noticed that, and stopped struggling.

"Hey, little one" she said. People always called her that, and she had always wanted to call someone "little one" too. "I won't hurt you."

The chicken looked at her, moving his head in a funny way. He didn't seem to trust her at all, but he did nothing. Anita walked back to the place where Lynna and Adele were, and found them staring at her with curiosity.

"You actually bought this mad chicken?" Adele asked.

"Don't talk like that! He is a nice chicken, aren't you?" Anita said, looking lovingly at the chicken, as though he was a little baby.

"Don't listen to Adele. He is a cute chicken. What will his name be?" Lynna asked.

Anita thought for a moment.

"I don't know yet. But I'll think of something."

On that moment, Anita noticed something that made her heart stop. A guard was standing right on the street corner, watching them disapprovingly.

"Aaaahhhh… I believe now is a good time to leave" she said, stepping backwards.

"Why?" Adele asked, confused. Anita discreetly pointed one finger to the soldier. But that was a mistake. He realized they were talking about him, and started to walk towards them, with a hand on his sword. The three girls immediately started to run. Anita held the chicken firmly and her eyes did not leave Adele and Lynna. She was determined not to lose them again.

But it wasn't her lucky day, and the chicken jumped from her arms in a moment of distraction. Anita instinctively started to chase the chicken. Her friends noticed that and went after her.

They ran through the streets of Paris, ignoring people's rude words when they accidentally hit them. When Anita finally grabbed the chicken, there was no sign of the guard.

"Remind me of thanking your chicken for this, Anita" said Adele, holding the basket with the egg.

"Are you being ironical or are you being serious?" Anita asked, her face red from running.

"Both" Adele replied. "I have to admit, he somehow helped us escape from that guard."

"Yes, your chicken is a hero!" Lynna exclaimed, laughing.

"Yes… A little hero you are, aren't you?" Anita said to the chicken, who just stared at her. "I know how I shall name you… You brought us luck in escaping the guard…"

"Luck and tiredness" observed Adele.

"…you brought us luck, so I will name you Shankar" Anita continued, ignoring Adele. "It means 'makes good luck' in Hindi."

"Hindi?" Lynna asked, confused.

"The language people speak in India" Anita explained.

" 'Shapar' sounds like a very important name for a chicken" Adele said, ill-humoured.

" 'Shankar'" corrected Anita, "and I think it suits him rather well."

Adele wanted to say something to disagree – when she was irritated, she argued with everyone – but was feeling too tired to do so. Instead, she just sighed and caressed the egg on the basket.

"It's getting late. I think we should head back to the Court of Miracles" whispered Lynna.

"But we haven't found a pet for you yet!" Anita said.

"I know, but it will soon be dark, and the streets are dangerous after the sunset."

They walked for a while, until they arrived to a rather shadowy street. They heard laughter coming from the end of the street, and also a painful sound, which didn't seem to be produced by a human being.

They ran to the place where the laughter and the strange sound were coming from, and met a dreadful scene.

Three boys around the age of eleven were beating a cat with thin branches of tree and shouting. An older boy, who looked to be eighteen, was laughing and ordering things like "Pull his tail!" or "Beat him harder!"

Anita was too shocked to make any move – she had never seen such a horrible thing. But Lynna and Adele were more used to people's cruelty. While Lynna walked towards the older boy, Adele handed the basket to Anita and followed her friend.

"Stop it at once!" Lynna demanded.

The older boy stared at her expressionless, and said:

"No need to be angry, doll face. 'Tis just a bloody cat. Now, don't you want to have some fun? I'd willingly give you some silver coins for that."

That only made Lynna angrier. But Adele was faster:

"She is no whore! And stop beating that poor cat!"

"Woman, gypsies like you are whores by nature. Any way, why do you care so much for this damn cat? 'Tis just an animal" he said, kicking the cat, who meowed weakly.

"Don't do this, you dog!" Lynna shouted, and started to try to hit the man. He grabbed her wrists and threw her on the ground.

"How dare you, you gypsy whore? I'll teach you some respect!"

He took the branch from one of the boys' hands, and started to beat Lynna with it. Adele immediately jumped on him and grabbed his arms, while Lynna and Anita shouted. The man hit Adele's face, sending her straight to the floor, unconscious, and started to beat Lynna again. The boys had run off when Anita started screaming. She put down the basket to try to do something to stop the man, but when she approached, Shankar – the chicken – jumped from her arms, flapped his wings three times and… fell straight on the man's head. Once there, Shankar took some of the man's hair into his beak and pulled it hard, flapping his wings to keep his balance.

"Get off me!" the man screamed, trying to grab the chicken, but failing. Anita took the opportunity to help Lynna stand up, and the two of them went to check on Adele. There was blood coming out of her lips, and it was impossible to know if she was dead or alive.

By that moment, the man had gotten rid of Shankar, who now was dizzily walking in circles. The man advanced towards Lynna and Anita. They held Adele's body and waited, helpless.


	12. Bad News

**OK so this chapter sucks but I have to post it anyway. R/R**

* * *

The man advanced towards the two terrified girls. His shadow covered their tiny figures. The sun was almost disappearing under the horizon's line now, and there was no possibility anyone would come and help them. Anita was weeping silently, and Lynna looked about to start doing the same thing.

But, before he had any chance to do anything, someone behind his back grabbed him and threw him on the floor. The man gasped and swore, surprised. He tried to stand, but instead he just sat there, looking straight forward.

The other man forced him to stand up and hit him hard on the jaw. He fell on the floor, his face bleeding.

When their saviour approached, the three girls realized it was no other than Clopin.

"What the hell happened here?" he said, examining Adele's face.

"Él-él – He-he-he att-ttacked us – beating gato, cat, I mean…" Anita said, nervously.

She didn't have time to complete her phrase. The man had stood up and grabbed Clopin's shirt. The two men started a terrible fight. It was impossible to say who was going to win. They would probably have fought for hours if Lynna hadn't approached them carefully and hit the stranger on the nape of his neck with her flute. He fell on the floor unconscious.

"Oh God!" Lynna said, taking a hand to her lips. "I think I've killed him! Is that a problem?"

"It will be a problem if a guard appears" Clopin said, firmly, while turning Adele's body around and raising it up. "We will talk about this later. Now let's go before that man wakes up, because I don't want to have to fight him again. One of us might end up dead."

Lynna grabbed the basket and was ready to start running away, but then she remembered the cat. She glanced at it. It was trying to stand up, failing completely. There was blood on its fur. Lynna felt she just couldn't leave the poor thing there.

"Anita" she called out. Her friend stopped walking and turned to face her.

"What?" Anita said, worried.

"Take this basket" Lynna said, handling it to her friend and walking towards the cat. It was almost completely black, save for a white spot over its right eye and ear. The cat stared at her with its green eyes, and bared its teeth when she reached out her hands to hold it. It tried to stand up and run away, but it couldn't. When Lynna held it in her arms, it desperately struggled and bit her. But she did not let go of it.

"Sorry to interrupt you" Clopin said, obviously irritated, "but we are going to have problems if a guard appears. We may even be arrested by attacking a citizen."

"We did not attack him!" protested Anita.

"Well, try convincing a guard of that" he said, ending the pointless conversation, and the three of them started to run; Anita carrying Shankar and the basket – and the effort to run without dropping any of them made her run slower than usual – , Clopin carrying Adele's body in his arms, and Lynna carrying the struggling cat.

* * *

Miriam almost faded when Clopin entered her tent carrying her unconscious daughter in his arms. He laid Adele on some orange cushions which were on the floor while Lynna went to get a cup of water.

"What happened to my poor Adele?" Miriam asked, kneeling down beside her daughter.

"Well-well, it's a long story, Miriam..." Anita started, stuttering.

"Is she dead?" Miriam interrupted her. "Oh, please, tell me she is not dead!"

"Don't even think of that!" Lynna shouted, pouring fresh water on Adele's face. Anita immediately pressed her ear against Adele's chest. For a second, her eyes froze in fear, because she heard nothing – but then, a pound, and another, and she sighed, relieved.

"She is alive" Anita said, standing up. She walked towards Shankar, picked him up and sat down, putting him on her lap. The poor chicken had been practically thrown aside when everyone entered the tent. Since then, Shankar spent his time staring curiously at the girl who had bought him from the fat woman. He seemed to understand now that she could be trusted, and didn't try to run away from her anymore.

"I will bring Panya here" Clopin informed, and left.

"What the hell happened, Lynna? Who did this to my Adele?" Miriam asked again.

Lynna, who was much calmer than Anita, explained what had happened. She was sitting with the cat she had saved. Her neck and arms were full of bruises from the cat's fighting to break free, but now the cat laid quietly on the floor, licking its paw.

Lynna lifted the cat's back paw, and said:

"It's a girl. What should I name her?"

"Are you going to keep this cat?" Anita asked.

"Of course. I can't just leave her to live on her on."

"Aww..." Adele moaned, rolling on her improvised bed.

"Adele, my dear! Are you alright? How many fingers do you see?" Miriam said, placing her hand in front of Adele's eyes. The girl was feeling too dizzy to answer, and instead she just took a deep breath and took her hand to her forehead.

"Man... It hurts..."

Adele tried to sit down, but she was too weak to do that. Lynna tried to distract her friend by telling her she was going to keep the cat they had saved and that she was thinking of a good name for her, but Adele was too irritated now to find amusement in anything:

"So while I was unconscious and bleeding to death you were thinking of a name for a cat? What a nice friend you are."

Of course, she was exaggerating. She only had a small bruise on the place her head had hit the floor when she fell.

Luckily for Lynna, Clopin soon arrived with Panya, and the old woman started to take care of the injured girl. Anita stood up with Shankar in her arms, unsure of what to do.

"Should I leave?" she asked quietly.

Adele opened her mouth to say something, but Panya declared that it would be better if everyone except Miriam left the room. Adele tried to protest, but everyone obeyed.

"Clopin?" Lynna said, once they were out of the tent. "Is Adele going to be alright?"

"Of course, Lynna. Panya can do wonders to injured people. Anita knows it very well, don't you, Anita?" he said, smiling. Then Anita noticed there was something wrong with him.

"You are bleeding" she said, pointing to his forehead.

It was true. On the left side of his face, there was a wound with blood coming out of it. He took his hand to his face, and left out a painful moan.

"It's nothing" he said.

"It's not 'nothing'" Lynna said. "Anita, let's take him to my tent. My mother will prepare something for us to eat and we can make a curative on him." Lynna was eager to show her gratefulness to the gypsy king, and without waiting for an answer, used one of her arms to pull him. Her other arm was busy carrying the cat.

Anita hurried and went after them, holding Shankar. They soon arrived to Lynna's tent, where her mother gave them some water and a hot meal. They washed Clopin's wound and told Lynna's mother about what had happened. She was very impressed about how Clopin had saved her daughter and her friends.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Anita asked, after they had washed his wound.

"Yes, yes, you don't need to worry" he answered, smiling. Anita was thrilled by how his smile was so cheerful and at the same time comforting.

When she went to sleep that night, she remembered that smile, and smiled too.

* * *

_**One month later**_

Anita woke up and yawned. She had gone to sleep quite late last night, but she had to get up and go the streets to get some money.

On the first days after her accident with the fire, she had dedicated all her attention to training Shankar to do some tricks. Cluck in the rhythm of some songs, fly over a footstool and even dance with her. The chicken was a fast learner, although sometimes he messed up one trick with another. One day, he had tried to fly over the footstool while clucking, and landed clumsy on the footstool, making everything – himself included – fall down. But Anita still loved him, and put a golden ring around his right paw, so everyone would know that this was now a gypsy chicken.

Since Anita couldn't dance with her castanets, she had tried to create a new dance with her fan. It turned out to be a good idea, and now she was able to earn her money without the castanets. But she missed dancing with them, and she went to see Panya everyday to know if she could start dancing with her castanets again.

Shankar had woken up too. He was walking around the tent, moving his head forward and backward as he walked. She chuckled at the sight.

"Come, Shankar, come. It's time to work" she said. The chicken stared at her for a moment, and when he realized she was going to leave, he followed her out of the tent. He had learned to trust Anita, but ran away if anyone else tried to touch him. Especially Adele. The girl seemed to have a talent for scaring the poor thing.

Speaking of Adele, the egg she had earned from Dino had surprisingly opened some days after the sunset events to reveal a little pretty bird. Adele had named it Fiore. The little bird thought Adele was his mum, and followed her everywhere.

As for Lynna, she and Hana, as she had named the cat, had developed a resigned but affective relationship. Hana didn't show any signs of caring about Lynna most of the time, but she would silently slip onto Lynna's lap when she sat with her friends to chat. Sometimes, Hana just lay on the floor and stared at the blonde girl, as if the cat was observing and protecting Lynna with her green, wise eyes.

* * *

"Adele! Wait for me!"

Anita ran after her friend, with Shankar clucking and racing after her. Life had been easy for the past month, and Anita almost didn't think of her father now. And whenever she did, she felt guilty for not thinking of him as much as she thought she should. Every day she would dance and laugh with her friends, but when night came she would remember her father, of whom she had had no news since she left him, and cry. She felt a horrible daughter for laughing while her father could be in danger, but the happy aura around her made it impossible for her to feel sad when she was with her friends. It was a strange feeling; to feel guilty for feeling happy.

Right now, her mind was completely filled with happiness. She had been dancing with her friends on the street, and now they had started a race game, which consisted in simply run among the crowd as fast as they could.

"This is not fair!" Lynna exclaimed when they stopped. "You don't have to carry your pet; Fiore simply flies after you."

"It's not my fault that my pet is the best" Adele replied, taking Fiore in her hand and putting it on her shoulder. The bird brushed its small head against Adele's cheek.

"Oh, please, don't make me laugh" Anita said. Her face was red from the exercise and she was very tired, but she would not lose a chance of displaying her chicken's abilities. "Can your pretty little bird do this?"

She opened her fan and stepped two times with her left foot and one time with her right foot on the floor. Shankar immediately started to dance with her, not looking like a drunk man anymore, but almost _gracefully_.

"Hmpf" grumbled Adele. "It's a matter of size. Fiore is too little to dance."

Lynna and Anita simply laughed.

* * *

When they were going back to the Court, in the evening, they walked past a young man sitting on the floor, his chin in his hands. When they were almost in the end of the street, the man shouted:

"Anita!"

The girl turned around, and stared at him, confused. Suddenly, her eyes lit up and she smiled.

"Sal!"

Anita hugged the young man with affection. They talked to each other in Spanish and looked extremely happy.

"Lynna, Adele" Anita turned to her friends. "This is Sal, an old friend of mine. We used to travel in the same group when we were children."

Sal was thin like a rod, and taller than Anita. He had big brown eyes which looked forward with fear, as though he was facing a big man with big fists. His entire body language made it look like he was constantly afraid, making Lynna and Adele want to laugh at him, but they simply smiled to hold the laughter back.

"Hello, Sal" Adele said, shaking his hand. As she did it, his whole arm moved along with his hand, making Adele smile even more.

"Good evening, ladies" he said, in a really strong Spanish accent. His voice was low and sharp. "I am delighted to meet you."

He looked somewhat uneasy, but Anita did not notice that. She was too happy for meeting her friend to notice anything.

"So, where have you gone to after Dad and I left? What have you been doing? Tell me, I want to know everything!" She clasped her hands in an almost childish joy, while walking towards a well in the middle of the street and resting her hands on its border. "How is everyone? Are they in Paris too? Are you going to stay for long? Tell me, tell me!"

Sal looked down. He seemed to be choosing his words carefully, and not knowing what to do with his hands.

"Is something wrong?" Anita asked, smiling, after a moment of silence. She couldn't imagine he would have a bad new for her, so why be upset?

"Anita… I have something to tell you" he started, biting his lower lip. "I… I have come alone. I left the group."

"Oh" she simply said. "Is that what you wanted to tell me?"

"No! No, it is… What I want to say is… I've met your father" he said, quickly. Anita widened her eyes.

"My father? You met him? Oh, please, tell me, how is he doing? When is he coming?"

"I… I was just in my way to Paris, some days ago" he started. "Then I heard some noise in a forest nearby." He stopped, looking aside. Anita walked to the place right in front of him.

"Was that my father?"

"It was Philip Bolder and his men."

Philip Bolder… Anita hadn't pronounced that name, not even in her mind, for a long time, and the sound of it hit her thoughts like a heavy bell which hasn't been rang for a long time. The name lit something up in Adele and Lynna's mind, and they slowly remembered the story Anita had told them.

"Oh God" Anita exclaimed, taking a hand to her mouth. "What were they doing there?"

"They were with your father" he said, quickly, as if he wanted to end that conversation as soon as possible.

Again, his words hit Anita like a heavy bell. Her eyes widened with fear.

"What did they do to him? Is he well? Did they hurt him? Where is he now? At some lodging? Is someone taking care of him? I need to go and see him immediately! Please, tell me where…"

"ANITA!" Sal interrupted her, grabbing her arms. He stared at her for a moment hopelessly, and said, slowly:

"Your father is dead."

A deadly silence reigned among them.

The words slowly made their way through her troubled mind. They echoed, and slowly started to make sense…

_Your father is dead_.

She shook her head.

"You lie." It was the only thing she could think of.

"Anita, please, face reality. Do you really think Bolder would let him escape alive? When I arrived, they were attacking him, and he was almost dead. I wanted to do something, but what could I do against twenty armed men? I watched everything."

"You lie" she repeated, dumbly, staring into nothing.

"Anita" Lynna said, putting her hands on her friend's shoulders. Lynna was worried – Anita looked like she was about to do something insane. Adele did the same.

Anita slowly released her arms from Sal's grasp. She took a few steps aside, looking straight forward.

_Your father is dead_.

The words echoed in her mind, not in Sal's sharp and desperate voice, but in a cold and cruel one.

_Father_. _Is_. _Dead_.

"This can't be true." she said at last. Sal sighed and put his hand inside his coat.

"I was hoping I could show you this later, when you were calmer, but I guess I'll need to show you now. When Bolder's men took his…" he hesitated. "…his _body_ away, they dropped this. I got it when they were gone." He handed her something. She quickly took it, and almost dropped it the instant she realized what it was. Lynna and Adele approached to have a better look at it.

It was a green hat with a small yellow feather, all covered in blood.

_Dad's hat_, Anita thought.

The next thing she knew, she was running towards the well and throwing her head into the big hole, crying like a mad girl.

"Anita!" Lynna and Adele immediately held her arms to stop her from falling into the well. Shankar started to jump nervously.

"Leave me alone! Let me throw all my afflictions into this well and die at last!" she screamed.

"Anita! Don't do this!" Sal shouted, with fear in his eyes.

"Why shouldn't I?" she shouted back, her eyes insane. "My father is dead. When I left him, I promised I would meet him again. Now I need to go meet him! I need to go meet him…"

She started to cry, and laid her head in Adele's chest. Adele held her tight, trying to comfort her.

Anita couldn't think of anything. So she just cried as scandalously as she could, trying to find comfort in her tears.

But she found none.

* * *

**Él: he**

**gato: cat**


	13. Never Give Up

**Author Note: Just in case you are interested, I posted a picture of Anita on Deviantart so that you can see how I imagine her. Try searching for "Anita Spanish Castanets". My nickname there is Aryang. Maybe I'll make some more later. Just for you to know.**

**I don't own The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Disney and Victor Hugo do.**

**Read and review please!**

* * *

Anita slowly opened her eyes. For some minutes, while she was weeping, resting her troubled head in Adele's chest, she did not think of anything. She just cried, and cried, and cried. She forgot about the rest of the world, and even the reason why she was crying. It was as though she was in a world of her own. But when she opened her eyes, she realized she was still there, in the middle of the street.

And the cold reality was all around her.

She felt miserable. Her thoughts were confused and messed up, but that feeling of loss and emptiness was there.

"I think it would be better if we went home now" Lynna informed Sal.

Adele took Anita's left arm, and Lynna did the same thing with her right arm. Anita was holding her father's hat with her left hand firmly. They helped Anita walk back to the Court of Miracles. Shankar, Fiore and Hannah followed them, and soon they disappeared around the corner.

Sal stood there for some moments, his face dark and afraid. Suddenly, he ran in the direction the three girls had headed to, but they were gone.

* * *

Anita didn't show any reaction during all the way to the Court. She simply stared expressionless at nothing, and Adele and Lynna didn't dare talk to her.

When they arrived to the alley and turned the stone to enter, Anita finally blinked and started walking by herself. They crossed the dark passages silently.

After all that crying, it was almost frightening to watch Anita walk so peacefully, as if nothing had happened. Her lack of emotion was what worried Lynna and Adele the most. They were afraid Anita was about to do something terribly – and deadly – stupid.

Anita headed straight to her tent. When they walked past Adele's tent, Miriam waved and greeted them, but Anita didn't even look at her – she just went on and entered her tent. Adele made a signal to her mother and followed Anita into the tent, as did Lynna and the pets.

They found her sitting on a pillow on the floor, staring at her image on the mirror. The crack in the mirror was placed exactly upon her reflection's face. For a moment, no one even breathed, and suddenly Anita simply laid her hands on the table, placed her face between her arms and started to cry. Her back went up and down with each of her sobs. Shankar slowly approached and sat down besides her, resting his tiny head on her knee. She didn't pay any attention to him.

Lynna and Adele exchanged a glance and left, taking their pets with them. Hannah stared through a small hole between the fabrics for a moment, and then left.

* * *

Anita didn't know what time it was. The Court of Miracles was covered by darkness, except for a few torches here and there. She was staring through the "door" of her tent, her head resting on her right arm, which was on the table. Right beside her arm, there was the hat covered in blood. Shankar had fallen asleep on her knee.

As for her, she hadn't had a minute of sleep that night. She had cried for hours… Hours? Had it really been _hours_? It could have been only one minute. It could have been days. It could have been _years_…

She quickly turned to the mirror, as if to check if she was still a girl of sixteen, or if she had spent years and years in delirium, like in a story she had heard when she was a child. For a brief moment, she almost didn't recognize herself. Curls of her hair spread in all directions, her eyes were red, her face was pale, and she had many wrinkles on her skin. She thought, with her heart racing, that she had become an old woman without even realizing it.

But, as slowly and peacefully as the waters of a river become plain again after someone throws a stone in the water, producing small waves, Anita's face returned to its old self. She raised her eyebrows and closed her half opened mouth, making the wrinkles disappear. Her eyes widened with the wilderness of youth, and she knew she was still a little girl, as she had always been. While this was a relief, it also made her feel unprotected and vulnerable.

Suddenly, she felt very, very tired. With her last bit of strength, she stood up and walked to her bed, falling into a deep and dreamless sleep.

* * *

"Anita! You have to eat something!"

"I am not hungry."

Anita stared expressionless at the floor. After receiving the news about her father's death, she had cried a lot, and now she was in that state people stay when someone whom they love dies: she didn't want to do anything, she didn't want to eat, she didn't want to go out of her tent. She was in that state people think they can show how much they loved the person who died by trying to kill themselves from hunger.

"If you don't eat anything, you will die!" Lynna exclaimed, almost dropping the plate with meat and bread. Anita didn't answer. She could have said that that was what she wanted – to die – , after all, that's what everyone says in these cases. But to say that she wanted to die would have been a great lie, because she didn't want that. More than ever, she wanted to live, with all the fire existence could produce. But she also felt guilty for not wanting to die when her father died. She felt guilty and coward.

She felt guilty for living happily for the past months while she should have stayed sad all the time.

Now she wanted to punish herself for all the amusement she had had. So, she decided she would refuse to eat anything. But she was feeling extremely hungry, and she didn't know how long she could resist.

"Please… Leave me alone" she said, quietly, turning her back to the food. Lynna and Adele sighed. It was the day after the night they had met Sal, and Anita hadn't eaten anything since yesterday.

"Alright, we are going to leave, but I'll leave the food here" Lynna declared, and left. Adele opened the door to leave, but before going she said:

"Anita… I don't think your father would want you to starve."

Anita found herself alone in the room. She took a deep breath and went to the table on her knees, and started to eat like a wild animal.

'I'm sorry, father' she thought, 'I am not as strong as you are.'

* * *

Time passed slowly and painfully for Anita Rivera. On the first days, she refused to leave the Court and only ate after making sure no one was watching her. She spent her days staring at the nothing, caressing Shankar's feathers. But after a while, she started to go back to her normal self. Partially, this was because Adele's birthday was coming, and she didn't want to be sad on that day.

Anita tried to start living her life normally, but she was completely indifferent to everything around her. Dancing did not make her happy, her favourite foods did not taste so good anymore, nothing could cheer her up.

As the end of the year came, all the gypsies started to get ready for the Feast of Fools. Anita could remember her father mentioning it briefly, explaining that it was a very nice day when everyone could have fun. Only that. The memory was so full of dust in the basement of Anita's mind that she could hardly believe it had ever happened. Everything before she came to Paris was now a confusing blur full of clouds, like the memory of a dream she had last night and couldn't remember entirely after waking up. She started to almost doubt she even existed before leaving her father.

But when she looked at the woven band with the old location of the Court of Miracles, at her Chinese fan, at all her belongings she had brought from far away lands, she remembered everything with such clearness that she was shocked for not remembering before.

* * *

One morning, Lynna simply invaded her tent with a candle and threw a piece of fabric to Anita, making her wake up. Shankar jumped from his cushion and started clucking.

"Shhh, good chicken, good chicken" Lynna said, placing a finger on her lips.

"He is hardly a chicken anymore, Lynna" Anita said, rubbing her eyes.

It was true. After so much time, Shankar had become a nice cock, with green feathers on his tail and head.

"What is this for?" Anita asked, looking at the fabric Lynna had given her.

"Hurry, we have to sew this quickly to make a coat for you. Believe me, you are going to need it. We're off to the market to buy birthday gifts for Adele."

"What time is it, anyway?" Anita asked.

"Six o'clock in the morning, I guess" Lynna answered, calmly.

Still half asleep, Anita washed her face and changed. She put her clothes on, and sat with Lynna to work on the fabric. After an hour, they had produced a blanket to be worn over Anita's clothes. Lynna got her own coat and they left.

When they reached the outside world, Anita realized how cold it was. There was snow all around the place. It had been a long time since she had last been in such a cold weather.

"It's cold!" she exclaimed, rubbing her arms.

"Oh, please, it's not _that_ cold. You just have to get used to it. Now let's go before we freeze."

It was a painful journey for Anita at the beginning, but she soon forgot about the cold weather. She learned to enjoy stepping on the soft snow and he warmth her coat brought.

Some time later, while she was looking at some necklaces and Lynna was on the other side of the street, looking at some fabric, a voice called:

"Anita!"

It was Sal. He was running down the street in her direction, doing his best to pass unnoticed. But he tripped on a bucket, splashing water all over the floor. The owner of the bucket, a fat woman who was sweeping the floor in front of her house, shouted at him while bending with difficulty to lift the bucket. Sal got out of there as quickly as he could, and approached Anita.

"Anita" he said, "I was worried about you. You left me on that night wanting to kill yourself, and I couldn't find you for all these days."

"These last days were difficult for me, you know." She didn't need to explain why.

"I know." He looked down for a moment, unsure about what to do. "Anita, can I have a word with you?"

"Of course."

They started walking down the street. Sal glanced around and, putting a hand on Anita's shoulder, he said:

"I think you should…" he paused for a moment. "I think you should bury your father's hat. In the cemetery."

Anita widened her eyes, unsure if she had heard correctly.

"What?"

"Yes, yes, as you cannot bury his body properly, you should bury his hat."

"And what the hell would I bury his hat for?" Anita said, both annoyed and sad because of the terrible memory of the green hat covered by blood. She had hidden the hat under her clothes in her chest. She did not want to look at that hat again. It made her want to cry.

"Well, well, I think it would be a respectful tribute to him, wouldn't it?" Sal said, smiling nervously. Anita stared at him for some seconds, and said:

"Where did you get this idea from, Sal?"

He had no idea about what to answer, and just said: "He would have liked that."

_He would have liked that_. The words echoed in Anita's mind. All her life, her father had helped her with everything and done everything for her. And now she felt guilty for not doing anything for him. Or at least for not doing _more_. She knew he deserved more.

"Maybe you are right. I don't know." she said at last. She wasn't sure, though, if that was a sane idea. But she was still so confused because of her father's death that she decided it was just her imagination.

"Just think about it. I think it would be a nice tribute to your father" he repeated. Anita thought he was a bit nervous, but he had always been nervous.

"I have to go now" she said. "I will think about what you said. Goodbye."

Without waiting for a reply, she went to Lynna, staring at the floor.

* * *

_**Some days later**_

"Oh, thank you so much, girls! I am so happy!"

Adele looked at her birthday gifts, at her mother and at her friends, and felt like she couldn't be happier.

"I will prepare dinner for you" Miriam declared, smiling, and left the tent.

"Now, you all remember what's happening in three days, don't you?" said Lynna.

"Feast of Fools!" exclaimed Adele, throwing herself on her bed. "Lots of good food, people everywhere, music, and loads of happy people who are very willing to give coins for street performers! We are going to have so much fun!"

"Girls, I… I don't think I'll go with you." Anita said, quietly.

Lynna and Adele stared at her for a moment, and then started talking at the same time.

"What? You cannot be serious!"

"The Feast of Fools is the best party in Paris, and you're not coming?"

"It happens only once a year! If you don't go this time, you will not have another chance to go until next year!"

"You would lose one of the greatest things in the world! Who knows when we are going to have a party like that again?"

"…only once a year!"

"Oh, please, Anita! It is going to be so fun!"

"I… I don't know."

"Please! It will not be the same without you!" Lynna pleaded.

"Do this for me! As a birthday gift" Adele said.

"I've already given you a birthday gift" Anita retorted lazily. Adele got Anita's hands on hers and said:

"Then do this for yourself."

Anita considered the subject for a moment. She wanted to go to the Feast of Fools, but at the same time she felt like she was disrespecting her father, for going to have fun right after his death.

"I think I should stay here. My father just… died" she said quietly.

"Anita" Lynna said, "I never knew your father, but I am sure that, if he loved you, he would want you to be happy, even without him."

"Lynna is right" Adele said, crossing her arms over her chest. "You cannot keep mourning your father for the rest of your life.

Anita's face was dark for a moment, and then she said:

"Alright. I will go with you."

"You promise?" asked Lynna, full of expectation.

"I promise."

"WHEEEPIII!!!!"

Lynna and Adele jumped on Anita and held her tight, giggling and screaming. While Anita protested she couldn't breathe, Miriam entered the tent with a tray in her hands.

"What's the matter here? Are you trying to murder poor Anita?"

As they stopped their little celebration, they started to eat the meal Miriam had brought them. Meanwhile, Anita started to think if her father would have approved her decision, but decided to just leave it aside.

* * *

Anita woke up very early on that day, with the noise of the people getting ready for the Feast of Fools. When she opened her eyes, she did not feel the smallest will to get up and go outside her tent, much less to a festival. She only wanted to curl beneath the sheets and sleep all day. But, remembering the promise she had made to Lynna and Adele, she forced herself to wake up and get ready.

She looked at herself in the mirror, and did not like what she saw: her hair was messy and full of knots, there were dark circles around her eyes, which were red, and her face was absolutely expressionless – not to mention pale. She looked terrible. For a moment, she felt irremediably ugly, and felt the urge to go back to bed. But she simply shook her head; she had decided that today she was going to look pretty, or at least presentable, and started to comb her hair. It was a difficult task, due to all the knots and the precarious light of the candle, but she managed to tame her hair, not completely though – some locks still stood messily on the top of her head.

She went to her wooden chest and opened it. Searching between her belongings, she found what she wanted: a purple and pink scarf with small circle shaped pieces made of brass hanging from it. After putting it on the floor in front of her mirror, she got dressed and ran her hands on the fabric of her skirt, trying to make it look as plain as possible. She tied the scarf around her hair, and looked at her reflection in the mirror.

She could look better, but she was contented. After tying a green and red scarf around her waist and putting some golden bangles on, she made a movement to Shankar, indicating that he should follow her, and stepped out of her tent.

People were running everywhere and talking loudly; in the centre of the square, some girls practiced their dances while men played instruments. An old woman was singing a Spanish song. Anita closed her eyes at the sound of the familiar language. She remembered her father, her childhood, her games of hide-and-seek. She remembered when her mother died, and when her father told her to be strong and never give up.

"I won't give up, Father" she whispered, in Spanish. "I won't give up."


	14. Confused Emotions and More Trouble

**I've got to say some things quickly. I did my best to finish this chapter in time, and fortunately I did. I going to the airport in half an hour - I'm going to England! (throws confetti in the air and starts dancing) Sorry if there are too many grammar mistakes in this chapter, I finished it quite in a hurry. Now, some bad news for you: I'm going to stay in England for a month, so next chapter will probably be late. But don't think I have abandoned this story, I will continue it as soon as I come back. R/R, please, and godbye everyone!**

* * *

The streets of Paris were covered by an endless crowd. People walked in every direction, and there seemed to be no space left for Anita and her friends to walk. But Lynna and Adele quickly grabbed her arms and made their way through the crowd. Although it was a cold day, Anita was warmed by the proximity of all the people around her. Shankar seemed a bit agitated because of all the excitement around him. Anita held him tight to prevent him from jumping from her arms. They were heading to the Île de la Cité, where the Feast of Fools was to be celebrated.

And once again, Anita was standing before the majestic cathedral. After the excitement about seeing it for the first time, and attending to Esmeralda's wedding, her interest on Notre Dame had been put aside. But now, as she stared at the impressive building, she was surprised at how she could have ignored the cathedral for so long. It felt almost like the church had simply disappeared between the ceilings of the houses around it. Still, it was right there, where it had always been.

"Oh, look! The stage is so beautiful this year!"

Anita suddenly woke up from her daydreams and looked at the direction Adele was pointing. A long wooden stage divided the square in two halves, and the back part of the stage was covered by colourful fabrics. But even the beauty of the place could not distract Anita from her dark thoughts. Her heart was heavy, and it was stopping her from enjoying the day.

"Adele, please, take care of Shankar for me for a minute" she said, giving the cock to Adele, and walking towards the church.

"Where are you going?" Lynna asked, caressing Hannah's neck.

"To the church" Anita replied, looking over her shoulder. "There is something I need to do."

* * *

Inside the church it was dark and cold. The silence of the room contrasted with the noise in the square, and as Anita entered Notre Dame it was almost like she was entering a different world.

In her mind, some places should bring joy and some places should bring peace. Notre Dame was, of course, a place that brought peace, but it also brought something else, a feeling of spiritual elevation, as though she was protected from all adversity and suffering.

After observing the colourful images the windows threw on the floor, she headed to the altar. Kneeling down, she prepared to pray. But then she realized she didn't know what to say. Should she ask for God to save her father's soul? Should she ask God to protect her?

_What does one pray for?_

Not knowing what to do, she started to pray.

_Ave Maria, gracia plena, Dominus teecum_

_Benedicta tu in mulieribus_

_Et benedictus frutus ventris tuus_

_Iesus..._

After saying the words aloud, she felt something was wrong. The prayer had always sounded so beautiful to her ears. Why did it sound so… _fake_? It was almost like she was praying for obligation. It didn't feel right to just vomit the words without meaning them.

"Problems, my child?"

Anita lifted her head, surprised; before her stood a rather old man dressed in white clothes, and she knew instantly that he was a priest. She stood up quickly, with her eyes wide and her mouth half open. She had never talked to a priest, and she didn't know what to say.

"I… I… I was just…"

She cleared her throat. During her life, she had seen joyful people dressed in colourful clothes around her. She had never seen someone with such a respectable and amiable appearance. Such an elevation of spirit made her feel small and undeserving. Not to mention nervous – in her eagerness to say something intelligent, she started to speak with a bit of Spanish accent, stuttering and unable to control the flux of words that escaped from her lips.

"It's because… I know how to pray, but… Somehow… I don't think I am doing it right" she confessed, her cheeks with a bright red colour.

"My dear" the priest said, smiling, "there is no right or wrong when you pray. You can pray in several different ways. As long as you do it with sincere faith, God will listen."

"Yes… I see…"

Anita left him as quickly as she could. The priest's presence made her feel uneasy. Without realizing it, memories and thoughts came to her mind, cloudy and unclear, like mist. Words started coming to her lips, and she whispered them quietly.

"Pray with sincere faith… Pray with sincerity…"

_Pray with your heart._

Anita stopped. Those words had invaded her thoughts before she could remember where they came from. But after a moment of confusion, she started to remember...

* * *

_**Flashback**_

_Around the fireplace, women dressed in colourful rags danced and sang, men talked and children played. Except one, a five-year-old girl with black hair and blue eyes. She was watching the dance with dreamy eyes._

_When the music stopped, the girl ran to one of the dancers and said, in Spanish:_

"_Mum! Mum! I want to dance like you! Please, teach me!"_

_Her mother took the girl in her arms and said, in Spanish, but with a strong English accent:_

"_Anita, don't you think it's a little too early for you to start dancing? Wouldn't you rather play with the other children?"_

_The little girl glanced at the boys running all around the place, and made a face of disgust._

"_There are no other girls here. And I don't like playing with the boys. They only like stupid things."_

"_I thought you liked Sal and Miguel. You are always together."_

"_Well... They are nice, but only when we all agree playing 'damsel in distress'. I am the damsel in distress, Miguel is the sorcerer keeping me locked in a tower and Sal is the knight that comes to save me. But he never saves me, because he is afraid of Miguel, and I have to escape __alone__" Anita explained._

"_Diana, teach the girl how to dance! It will be good for her, she is becoming a tomboy" Juan Rivera interfered._

"_Thank you, Dad!__" Anita said. "Hey! I am not a tomboy!"_

"_Hmmm..." Diana pondered. "Alright, Anita, I will teach you. But I will need help, as I am not exactly the best dancer around." She looked expectantly at the other women, who smiled and nodded._

"_It means I am going to be a dancer?" Anita asked, full of expectation._

"_Yes."_

"_WHEE-"_

"_Tomorrow."_

"_Aw, mum! Tomorrow is too far away! I want it now!"_

"_Do not discuss, Anita, I don't want you to become a spoiled and impatient girl. Now let's pray and go to sleep – it's past your bedtime."_

_Before Anita could protest, her father said:_

"_I'm not sure if I like you teaching her this religion thing – she might start thinking that her life and fate depend on God, like those religious fanatics."_

"_No... This won't happen. I teach her to have faith and never give up. I teach her to pray not with words, but with her heart. __Now, Anita, repeat: Ave Maria, gracia plena..."_

_**End of flashback**_

* * *

"...Dominus teecum..."

Anita found herself saying the words aloud, and stopped as soon as she realized it. Glancing around, she sighed in relief when she saw no one near enough to listen.

She looked down at the floor, and remembered her father's words: _She might start thinking that her life and fate depend on God..._

Anita was surprised at how clear the memory was, since it happened so many years ago. But when she tried to remember more, she found nothing; there was just that small piece of memory.

At the moment she had heard those words from her father, she did not give them any importance; however, now, in that church, after all that happened to her, she started to see them in a different way.

She had always been taught to have faith and believe in God – and she believed, because her mother told her to. But now… What does it matter? Her mother is gone, and so is her father. If God was so good and compassionate to all who believed him, why had he taken her parents from her?

She felt somewhat guilty for questioning everything her mother had taught her, but it also felt good to rebel against it.

Then she remembered her father, whom she would never see again, whom she loved above all things. He didn't believe in God – or, at least, not much. So, why should _she _believe?

Deep inside, she knew it was no use to rebel against her own beliefs, but she didn't listen to reason – instead, she unconsciously decided that God was responsible for all the bad things that were happening to her. With an angry groan, she left the church, promising herself she would never enter that place again.

* * *

"So, can we go now?" asked a very annoyed Adele when Anita left the church.

"Yes, yes, of course" Anita replied.

"I was thinking about something: before the Feast begins, we could create a new dance, to present on the street when we go to earn some money."

"Good idea!" Lynna seemed to be in a very fine humour, because she never agreed with Adele so willingly. "After the King of Fools is crowned, most people go to taverns or watch gypsy groups dancing on the square" she explained to Anita. "We can make a lot of money!"

"And that's a good thing, because Genevieve has some really beautiful fabrics to sell, but the old woman won't lower the price for me" Adele sighed. Genevieve was a sixty years old woman who made embroidered fabrics and sold them. Adele had spent a lot of money with jewellery recently, and now she was running out of money to buy things for herself. Whatever was left she gave to her mother to help buying food.

"Don't worry, we will get loads of coins and you will have as many fabrics as you want" Lynna comforted Adele.

"I wish there was a Feast of Fools every day" Adele said lazily.

"Every day? You would get tired of it someday" Anita pointed out.

* * *

It wasn't long before the celebrations began, and the moment it happened Anita felt like she was in the middle of a hurricane of colours. She didn't know which direction to look at. Everything was wonderful and bright and colourful and joyful and… And she realized she couldn't find any other words to describe it.

"Come here, Anita! Let's watch the dance!" Lynna said, pulling her friend by the arm. When Anita questioned them about the dance, Adele answered, excited:

"It's one of my favourite parts! Every year they choose the best dancer in the Court to dance at the Feast of Fools. Esmeralda danced last year, and Clopin told me she would dance this year again. I always observe her carefully, so that I will learn to dance like her."

"Adele's greatest dream is to dance at the Feast of Fools" Lynna whispered to Anita, indicating the stage covered by colourful carpets.

Their conversation was cut off by Clopin's sudden appearance on the stage. Adele started to jump on her place, anxious to watch Esmeralda's dance.

"Dance La Esmeralda… DANCE!" Clopin shouted, disappearing in a cloud of red smoke. Adele and Lynna were expecting that, but Anita was very surprised. She had already watched some illusionists doing that sort of thing, but never so close and so suddenly. To make her even more surprised, Esmeralda appeared in Clopin's place and started to dance. She wore a light-purple dress with yellow and purple transparent veils hanging from it. As she danced, her long skirt spun around her waist and her veils floated in the air. Her movements were quick and precise, yet natural and flexible.

* * *

**Adele's P.O.V.**

When Esmeralda finished her dance, Adele was almost dancing too. She felt like jumping onto the stage and dancing with Esmeralda, but she contained herself.

_Someday it will be my turn_, she whispered to herself, barely moving her lips, as Clopin and Esmeralda picked up the ugliest guy to be the King of Fools.

_I wonder where Quasimodo__ is_, she thought, remembering last year confusion. She looked around, trying to spot him, but even if he was attending to the Feast of Fools it would be impossible to find him among all those people.

When she turned to look at the stage, she saw something that caught her eye. It was Anita, looking at the stage like a little girl staring at a beautiful doll. Her mouth was half opened and her eyes shined in a… Adele was about to think _childish way_, because that was how Anita usually acted – like a child – , but she soon realized that 'childish' was not exactly the word to describe the look in Anita's eyes. No, it was a completely different word; Adele just couldn't make out _which _word.

Following Anita's gaze, she had the greatest surprise of her life when she realized that her friend was looking straight at Clopin. Not like a child would look at an adult, but the way a woman would look at a man. Adele almost laughed at the contrast between Anita's intense gaze and her tiny weak body.

_So Anita__ has a crush on Clopin?_ Adele thought, with a cheerful smile. _The little tramp! Not even __**I**__ had realized!_

Adele's theory seemed to be proven right shortly after, because as soon as Clopin left the stage, Anita's eyes followed him until he disappeared among the crowd. Also, Anita's face was red, and her breath was heavy. As they left their place near the stage, Adele decided to test her friend.

"Anything wrong, Anita? You look a bit… _panting_."

Anita's eyes widened in surprise, and she looked confused for a moment.

"Panting? Really? Oh, well… It must be the heat."

_Heat… At this time of the year, right…_, Adele thought.

"Anita, are you alright?" Lynna asked, putting a hand on Anita's forehead. "You're a bit feverish."

"F-fe-feverish?"

"You're acting strange since you left that church" Adele said, putting aside for a moment her theories about Anita's secret 'love'.

"I... I guess I started to think of the wrong things in the wrong place, at the wrong time" this was Anita's confusing reply. "But that won't happen again. I promise."

Adele and Lynna exchanged an interrogative glance, questioning if they had understood right or if Anita was messing up with her French, as they had no idea what their friend was talking about. However, they just shook their heads and decided to forget about it.

"Well, let's go do some dancing, then?" Adele said, cheerfully. "We don't want other street performers stealing our audience, do we?"

**End of Adele's P.O.V.**

* * *

Anita hadn't moved a finger while watching Esmeralda's dance, and yet she was sweating. She attributed it to the great amount of people she had around her, and the heat as well. When a voice in the back of her mind reminded her that it was winter in Paris, she just shook her head and tried to forget about it.

Speaking of Esmeralda's dance, what a wonderful dancer she was! No wonder Adele wanted to be like her. Esmeralda was a sort of idol to Adele.

And by the way, Clopin was also a great performer. Funny, cheerful, handsome…

_Handsome?_

The word came into her thoughts before she could stop it, and she felt her face going red when she realized what she had just thought. Her cheeks were burning from embarrassment, even though she hadn't said those words aloud. She was so embarrassed that she didn't think about wondering why she had thought that.

She, Lynna and Adele convinced a gypsy man who was passing nearby with a mandolin to play for them. Lynna sat beside him and they started to play, as Adele and Anita began to dance.

Anita was quite distracted. She missed a few steps, and sometimes she clicked her castanets at the wrong time, but the audience didn't seem to notice. In fact, everyone was looking at Adele, who was dancing better and more cheerfully than her.

Adele was too concentrated in her dance to pay attention on anything else, but Lynna noticed that something was wrong with Anita. She tried to call Adele quietly, but the girl wouldn't notice, so she just stopped playing her flute and grabbed Adele and Anita by the arms. The audience sighed in disappointment and left. Lynna quickly told the mandolin player that they were taking a break, and he nodded, pleased.

Lynna pulled them to an empty street – which was almost impossible to find, since there seemed to be more people than places to be. They had to walk a long way to find a peaceful spot, and even there some people were talking and drinking at a tavern.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Adele said when she got the chance. "Are you crazy? We were getting more money in a minute than we usually get in a whole month!"

Adele sat down on the pavement and started counting the money in the hat – which she grabbed a moment before Lynna took them away, leaving some of the money to the mandolin player. While she was distracted with the coins, Lynna spoke to Anita:

"What the heck is happening to you? I've never seen you so distracted while dancing!"

With that, Adele looked up.

"Was she distracted?"

"Yes, a lot" Lynna said, annoyed. "Anita, I don't want to be too harsh on you or anything, but if you want to do this, then do it right."

Anita's cheeks were red from shame. Lynna had never spoken to her like that. But she could understand her anger – it was the best day of the year for them, and Anita felt guilty for spoiling everything because of her own problems.

"Was I really that bad?" she asked, hesitantly.

"Well, it looked like you give no more importance to dancing than you give to sweeping the floor" Lynna said, her voice a tone lower, but still firmly.

"Oh, Lord, what's the matter with me?" Anita exclaimed, sitting on the pavement and running her fingers through her hair. Shankar started to caress her arm with his beak.

Surprisingly, it seemed that Adele and Lynna had reversed roles today; while Lynna was angry and impatient, Adele looked very calm. She sat beside Anita and said:

"Never mind. She gets a little stressed at the Feast of Fools, because she is eager to make money. As for me, I only want to have fun!"

Anita stared at her as if Adele was mad and said:

"Weren't you the one who was complaining about how you were taken away from the square when you were making a lot of money?"

"Ah, oh, well, the money is nice too, but the fun is the best part" Adele said, nervously. It seemed that she understood that her friend was not alright, so she was trying to be nice to her. "And I want my best friends to have fun today as much as I do in every Feast of Fools."

Lynna looked calm now. She sat with them with a tranquil face and said, pointing to the tavern:

"Come. Let's go there. We need to eat something."

Even though Anita didn't feel hungry at all, she followed her friends into the tavern and forced herself to eat some bits of bread. However, she looked really melancholic when they finished.

"You look pale" Lynna said. "I'll go and get you some wine. You look like a corpse."

"Oh no. I don't drink wine" Anita replied, in a tone of voice that made it seem she didn't care whether she had promised herself to never drink alcohol or not; it sounded like she was just repeating something she had said all her life. Lynna rolled her eyes and said, with sarcasm:

"Anita, please, it's not a good time to be the immaculate and pure daddy's girl."

Adele glared at Lynna, but said nothing. In a moment, Lynna was back with a small bottle and three cups in her hands. She poured some wine into one of the cups and handed it to Anita.

"No! I don't want it."

In fact, she wasn't refusing because she didn't want to drink – it didn't matter at all anymore. She just felt like rebelling against everything people told her to do.

"Please, Anita, today is our day to have fun, don't be difficult" Lynna said in a firm tone, her brown eyes staring straight into Anita's blue ones. With a sigh of defeat, Anita took the cup and slowly drank it.

The liquid felt strange in her tongue at first, and she made a painful face because of its strong taste. But she got used to it, and emptied her cup quickly. She paused and took a deep breath.

"I guess it's… Not that bad."

"Great!" Lynna said, much pleased. "Now let's make a toast to our special day."

She poured wine into the other cups, and filled Anita's. They all lifted their cups.

"To The Feast of Fools!" Adele said.

"To joy!" Lynna said.

Anita stared into her cup for a brief moment. The red liquid reflected her eyes, and she soon found the word she needed.

"To independence."

They drank all at the same moment. As she drank, Anita thought about all the things that happened to her in all her life, and realized that, if she stayed hooked to her memories forever, she would never be independent of them, of her father, of her past. She needed to forget everything and start to live her own life. What had she done in her life so far? Nothing. It had been all dancing and laughing and hiding behind her father.

Her father… Now that she had accepted his death, his memory brought her pain and her eyes were suddenly full of water, but she put those thoughts aside. Her father had left her in Paris so that they could start a new life whenever that was possible. And that was exactly what she was going to do – the only difference was that she would do it alone.

* * *

After that, Anita felt much better. In fact, she looked so well that her friends almost suspected there was something wrong with the wine she had drank. Anita was absolutely euphoric.

When they started their performance again, she was dancing almost as cheerfully as Adele – but only _almost_. Even then, it was a rare thing for the timid Anita to dance like that.

After her friends' encouragement, Lynna started to dance with them, and she took the opportunity to whisper to Adele, between one step and another:

"I think we gave her too much wine."

"She drank only _three cups_. How could this be 'too much wine' ?"

"It was the first time in her life she drank anything alcoholic. She is not used to it. And who knows? Maybe she drank another cup while we were not watching."

"I believe we were a bad influence for her" Adele retorted, smirking. "Oh, Lynna, let her be, it's only one day. And she's dancing very well now, so why should we complain?"

"Anyway, I think we should stop for some minutes" Lynna said, a bit worried about Anita. "Look at her; she's covered in sweat. And so are you, by the way. You two need some water."

Anita refused to stop dancing at first, but in the end, giggling like a mad girl, she agreed. They went to the nearest well they found in the middle of that mess.

"Anita, I am seriously starting to think that you are drunk" Adele said, scarcastically.

"Not drunk" Lynna interrupeted, "You just drank a little more than you should, and you are not used to drinking wine. Here, drink this water and you will be alright."

Anita seemed to calm down a bit after drinking the water, but Lynna insisted that they should take a rest before performing again.

"Oh, no, please!" Anita begged, in a jokingly tone. "I only want to dance and dance…"

She started spinning, and suddenly she turned around to face someone's chest. Stopping and gasping in surprise, she saw it was Clopin.

Almost instantly, all the colour vanished from her face, and she looked suddenly sober. Her heart started to beat very fast, and for a second or two she felt as though all the words she knew had deserted her mind.

_I knew it!_, Adele thought, noticing Anita's nervousness. Lynna also noticed it, but her mind did not lead her to the reasons of that as Adele's did. Shankar just stood there, his tiny eyes going from Anita to Clopin, as though even he suspected of something.

Clopin didn't seem to notice the tension, or if he did, he didn't show it.

"Why, you ladies seem to be having a lot of fun here today!" he said. Adele was quick to answer, so that Anita would have time to regain her composure:

"Oh, yes! You can't imagine how much! We danced, and ate, and Anita got drunk, and…"

"ADELE!" Anita and Lynna shouted at the same time, making Adele jump and gasp when she realized what she had said. Lynna grabbed Adele and covered her mouth with her hand, while she and Anita hurried to explain.

"It's not like that, Clopin, Adele doesn't mean what she said…" Lynna started.

"She doesn't _know_ what she's saying! She's mad! The sun is making her have vocal hallucinations!" Anita cut her off, her cheeks immediately going red.

Clopin laughed really hard at the girls' faces, and interrupted their confused explanations:

"Mademoiselles, please, you don't have to explain anything. As long as you're having fun, it's fine to me."

If until now only Anita's face was red, now all of them had a bright colour on their cheeks – Anita from embarrassment, Lynna from shame and Adele half from shame and half from the fact that Lynna was blocking her breath with her hand.

Adele started to struggle in Lynna's arms, desperate for air, when they all heard a weird noise. They turned their heads and saw a big dog running after Hannah and Fiore. The dog had a scratch over his nose, and he didn't seem happy about that.

"Oh no. Hannah!" Lynna screamed, literally dropping Adele on the floor. Adele stood up angrily and passed her hands on her dress to sweep away the dust.

"Right, you two can speak the same language, don't you?" Adele said quickly to Anita and Clopin. "So, keep company to each other for a moment while Lynna and I go solve some very… important problems!" she added, already running towards Lynna.

Anita stared at the scene for moment, her mouth half open. She was able to hold back her laughter, but it was just too funny not to stare: Adele chasing Lynna, Lynna chasing the dog (with her flute in hand, which made Anita feel very sorry for the dog), the dog chasing Hannah and Hannah chasing no one at all, simply running for her life – just like Fiore, who was flying with all speed ahead the whole group. Shankar watched the scene for a moment and then looked away shaking his head, as if saying "God, give me patience".

Anita couldn't hold back a chuckle. Shankar was such a sensitive cock; sometimes, she wondered if he had been human in another life, like people in India believed – people who had done something wrong in their lives would live their next life as an animal. Shankar was just so… human.

"Who is this?" Clopin asked, kneeling down to face the cock. Shankar stepped back, afraid. Anita smiled and got him in her arms.

"This is Shankar. My new friend. Well, not so new anymore, I've had him for quite a few months now."

* * *

For some odd and unexplainable reason, Anita had been able to talk to Clopin tranquilly after only a few minutes of conversation. She discovered it wasn't so difficult to talk to a man, especially Clopin – he spoke in a very clear way, almost as though he was talking to a child. Sometimes it annoyed her, to be treated like a little girl, but she still liked it.

However, half an hour later, something, or rather, _someone_ interrupted them. A girl, with light brown hair and who looked a few years older than Anita, with another girl about the same age, but blonde, approached them and talked directly to Clopin:

"Now, the ones who are alive always appear sometime! It's been a long time since I last saw you, Clopin…" She smirked seductively. Her blonde friend chuckled.

"I guess so. Just how long is that?" he asked, not seeming uncomfortable at all, like Anita was now.

"You don't remember? How cruel of you!" she exclaimed, pretending to be offended. "Well, maybe you would want to meet me sometime, so that I can show you how long is that…" Even Anita understood what the girl was talking about, and she felt her heart sink in her chest, though she couldn't explain why.

"Maybe" Clopin said, smirking. "But I am quite busy right now." He indicated Anita with his hand. "I was talking to my friend Anita here."

"Oh!" she said, looking disappointed for a moment. However, on the next second her expression changed to a joyful one. "Well, one can't win them all. Goodbye, Clopin. Goodbye… Anita" she completed, saying Anita's name slowly and hesitantly. She had certainly never heard that name, and she wasn't sure of how to pronounce it.

"Who is she?" the words escaped Anita's lips before she could stop them.

"Charlotte. Just an old friend of mine. She may look a bit intimidating at first, but she's harmless."

Anita looked at Charlotte. For a moment, her heart was filled with hate – but as soon as it came, it was gone. She was starting to feel afraid. Why was she acting so strange today? Maybe she had gotten a bit of Adele's madness. Yes, it must be it.

"Now… What was that story about you getting drunk?" he asked, trying to contain a smile, but failing. Anita immediately blushed.

"I wasn't _drunk_" she retorted, crossing her arms. "I just drank some wine, but it was my first time at it and I wasn't used. But I didn't do anything _stupid_" she added quickly. "I just got happy. A little _too_ happy, maybe, but that's all."

She looked at the other side to hide her red cheeks, making Clopin laugh. The sound of his laughter only made her blush more.

"Now, now, no need to be ashamed" he said, tapping her shoulder. "I'll tell you a secret: the first time I had wine in my life, I almost had to be carried home, so drunk I was."

Anita smiled as she imagined the scene. She tried to think of something intelligent to say about that, but her thoughts were interrupted by a voice calling her name.

"Anita!"

It was Sal. He was running through the crowd, trying to avoid drunken men and overly-excited performers dressed in colourful clothes who were jumping from one side to another and dancing. When he got close to her, he said, in Spanish, as if Clopin wasn't there:

"I was looking for you. Did you think about what I told you? About your father's hat?" He looked very anxious.

"Oh, sí" Anita answered, nodding.

In fact, she had not thought about it at all, but then again she didn't think that subject needed much attention. She wanted to make a respectful homage to her father; she couldn't stand the sight of the bloodied hat, but she also couldn't resist the temptation of looking at it once in a while, something that always made her cry; and Sal had come with a good idea. Her answer was indeed positive.

But before she had time to say anything, Clopin interrupted them:

"Who is he?" There was suspicion in his voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Clopin, this is Sal, an old friend of mine" she explained. "Sal, this is Clopin… king of gypsies."

Suddenly, Sal's face went white. He could barely say a word.

"Ah… Uh… Ah… Anita?" he started, grabbing Anita's arm. "Could we please talk in private?"

She held back her laughter at Sal's fear for the king and said:

"I'm sorry, Clopin, I need to go. Anyway, it was very nice to talk to you." She shook Clopin's hand and turned away without another word. Deep in her heart, it felt good to leave him like that – almost like a _revenge_.

_Revenge for what?_, she immediately thought, upset. _For talking to that girl earlier? Why should I care?_

When they were far away and couldn't see Clopin anymore, Sal stopped and said, quickly:

"So? What did you decide?"

Anita raised an eyebrow. Why was Sal so nervous and anxious about that subject?

"I decided to follow your advice. My father deserves it."

Sal sighed, almost as if in _relief._ 'How strange' Anita thought, but before she could say anything, Sal said:

"Why don't we go right now to the cemetery, to choose a good spot to bury the hat?"

Anita hadn't found Adele or Lynna yet, so she agreed. But when they were almost there, somehow Sal disappeared in the middle of the crowd, leaving Anita alone. She looked for him in the streets near the cemetery, which were morbidly empty (it seemed no one liked to go near that place), but she didn't find him. She turned around to look at the cemetery.

_I don't want to go there alone_, she thought. She started to head back to the square, but when she had just given a few steps, someone grabbed her by the waist and threw her on his/her shoulders! She screamed and started to punch the person's back, but it was useless. There was no one around who could hear her. To her horror, she realized that whoever was carrying her, this person was heading to the cemetery.

Unconsciously, she started praying that no harm would come to her, but she didn't have much hope on that.


	15. A New Hope, A New Riddle

**After two months of absence, I am back to FF. *Removes spider webs* I hope you haven't forgotten me and my story, which, by the way, might soon come to an end. This chapter is reeeeeeeeeally short, but I didn't want to leave this story without an update for much longer, or else people would start thinking I simply dropped it. However short, this chapter is important, so read, enjoy, review and, if you are lucky, expect a new chapter in less than a month (I'll try).**

* * *

Anita screamed and punched the person's back with all her strength, but it produced absolutely no effect. Her confused mind soon started to imagine fantasies about herself being thrown into a tomb and her faceless kidnapper covering her still warm and alive body with cold earth, and the rotten hands of the dead people around her grabbing her arms and legs and pulling her hair. It was similar to a nightmare she had when she was seven or eight years old, after hearing a story about people who had been buried alive.

However, the person who was taking her never made it to the gates of the cemetery. In a few seconds, Anita was thrown away and fell heavily on the stone floor. Her belt, hidden under the cloth she wore around her waist to carry her castanets, hurt her waist bones when she hit the floor, making her scream. As soon as she recomposed herself from the surprise of the sudden fall, she looked up to see what had happened and, especially, what was going to happen now.

What she saw wasn't totally unexpected nor an unknown scene, but it still surprised her: a gypsy man, dressed in dark red and dark blue clothes, was fighting a man dressed all in black. She soon realized that the man in black was the one who had attempted to kidnap her, for she had seen the person's back. But the other man was a complete stranger for her. And still, he fought the other man with such determination, looking like he would rather die before letting that other man lay his hands on Anita again.

The fight ended tragically for the kidnapper: the gypsy man took a long knife from his belt and stabbed the man's chest. He groaned in pain, and the gypsy used his left foot to push him away, being left only with a knife covered in blood in his hand.

Anita examined the stranger's face with attention and fear; there was something very familiar about him, but she still couldn't recognize his face. She tried to get as far from him as she could while still lying on the floor, her hair falling on her face.

"Anita?" the man said.

_Anita_. That single word was enough to light a flame in Anita's heart. Not because the man knew her name, but because she remembered that voice – she remembered it so well, even though she hadn't heard it in a very long time. She instantly recognized those black eyes, those dirty clothes and that messy beard – even though she had never seen that person with such a long beard before. She stood up in a jump and said, in Spanish, the most beloved and dreamed word she had ever said in her life:

"Father!"

* * *

Adele ran around the square like a mad girl, looking for Anita. She narrowed her eyes and shouted her friend's name, but received no answer. She couldn't spot the girl among all the people around her, and was starting to get worried.

"Adele!" a voice shouted. She turned around and saw Lynna pushing her way among the crowd.

"Any sign of Anita?" Adele asked, anxiously.

"Nothing" Lynna answered.

Both girls sighed in disappointment. Anita was _always _disappearing and making them worried.

"Hannah is tired" Lynna said, holding her cat in her arms. "And so am I, by the way. We should eat something."

Adele simply nodded – she was starving as well, and poor Fiore was very stressed, even though it had been on her shoulder all the time.

They were busy eating bread when Adele saw Clopin drinking in a tavern nearby. She pulled Lynna's arm, making her drop the bread, and said:

"Look, there is Clopin! Certainly he knows where is Anita. Come, let's ask him."

With that, she pulled her friend to the other side of the street and entered the tavern. Without the smallest ceremony, Adele grabbed a chair and sat in front of Clopin. Lynna just bended her body and put her elbows on the table.

Clopin looked up to face them, but did not stop drinking. Adele did not feel intimidated by his apparent lack of interest:

"Clopin, where is Anita? We left her with you almost an hour ago! Surely you know where she's gone…"

He drank the last bit of wine in his cup and said lazily:

"To tell you the truth, I have no idea. She disappeared with a broomstick…"

"With a _what_?" Adele interrupted, widening her eyes.

"With a thin boy" Clopin corrected himself, "and by the way, he looked _really_ anxious to be alone with her. Therefore, that's none of my business."

"Thin boy… Thin boy… How many thin boys do we know, Lynna?" Adele asked, trying to think of all people, especially men, in Anita's acquaintance.

"You mean, beyond Clopin?" Lynna said, and the two girls burst out laughing.

"Hmpf" Clopin grumbled. "I am not a thin _boy_."

Still laughing, Lynna said:

"It must be Sal."

"What Sal?" Adele asked, ceasing her laughter.

"That odd man who came to Anita to tell her that her father is dead…"

"So you know him?" Clopin asked the first question that came to his tongue. The next one was, "Her father is dead?"

Both girls nodded in silence, and there was an awkward silence. It was broken by Adele:

"We should go now. We have to find Anita before she falls in a well or something." With that, the two girls left the tavern, leaving Clopin alone with his thoughts and his empty cup, which he would soon fill with more wine.

* * *

"But… I thought you were dead!" cried Anita, looking up at her father, her confused face wet with tears of joy.

"Dead!?" Juan Rivera couldn't be more surprised. "What made you think such a thing? You knew I would take a long time to come back for you…"

"Sal told me you were dead! Do you remember Sal? Salvatore?"

"You mean that tiny scared boy from our group? Of course I remember him!"

Father and daughter were speechless for a moment. They looked like a reflection of each other, both because of their natural resemblance and because of their confusion. Their expressions were absolutely the same for a moment – until Juan's became a mix of determination and contained wrath.

"It seems Sal has some explanations to give."

While saying that, he bent down to pick up the knife covered in blood, which he had dropped when he hugged his daughter. Anita truly wished Sal had a good explanation for everything – otherwise… She didn't want to think what would happen to him.

The tension was broken by a desperate clucking, and both turned their attention to Shankar. The poor cock was running madly in circles as though he was possessed by a demon. Anita chuckled and approached him carefully. Shankar jumped in fright when he felt someone trying to grab him, but relaxed when he realized who it was.

"Now, who is this boy?" Anita's father asked, bending his knees so that his eyes were on the same level of Shankar's. The cock stared at him expressionless for a few seconds, until he noticed the knife in Juan's hand. With a sound that resembled a woman's scream, Shankar started to struggle in Anita's arms and try to fly away. Not succeeding, he quickly bit Juan's nose while Anita was too busy laughing.

"Stupid cock" Juan muttered, touching his nose to check if it was bleeding.

Anita was going to say something in Shankar's defense, but suddenly she remembered something:

"Your hat!"

"What hat?" her father exclaimed, taking a hand to his head. "Oh, yes, I lost my hat when I was almost getting here. I was attacked."

"By Philip Bolder?"

"Exactly. I had to flee as quickly as I could and, before I knew it, my hat was gone."

* * *

"Nothing simpler than this. Anita is with Sal. Find Sal, you find Anita. Simple."

"Brilliant, Adele. It helps nothing in our case. It will be much more difficult to find that _broomstick_ – I mean, that boy, than Anita. Let's go, we need to find her."

"Well, she's not in my pocket" said Adele, tired and irritated, putting a hand inside the pocket of her skirt. Lynna ignored her and moved on.

"Lynna!" Adele cried.

"Adele, we have no time to waste. I have lost almost an hour of this day and I don't want to lose one more minute. The Feast of Fools! We could be having fun right now! We shouldn't have left Anita with…"

"No, look! She's there!"

Lynna stopped talking and turned around quickly.

"Where?"

Adele was pointing to a street nearby, her mouth half open. Lynna followed her finger and spotted Anita – and the reason why Adele looked so surprised.

Anita was walking down the street, with an expression on her face that was both exceedingly delighted and stupid. Not only that, she was holding the arm of a strange man, and smiling at him.

"Who do you think is that man?" Adele asked quietly.

"I have no idea…" Lynna answered. As she stared at Anita and the stranger, a terrible idea crossed her mind: "What if he paid Anita to…?" she couldn't say the rest aloud.

"You mean, Anita becoming a whore!?" Adele almost shouted, but contained herself and spoke quietly, so that no one but Lynna would hear her: "No way! She may be a little stupid and crazy at times – especially after drinking wine, as we learned this morning – but she would never do such a thing. I mean, she is almost a child. I doubt she even knows how babies are made."

"Excuse me, mademoiselle Adele, I am certainly _not_ a child, and I know very well how babies are made!" said a voice, making them jump in surprise. It was Anita.

"Oh my, Anita, you gave us quite a scare" Lynna said, placing one hand on her chest and the other on Adele's shoulder for support.

The strange man was watching the scene a few metres away with curiosity. Anita smiled, amused, and reached out her hand for him, inviting him to come closer.

* * *

When Anita told her friends who was the man, Adele let out a hysterical shriek, and looked ready to hug Anita, but then looked quite confused. Lynna just opened her mouth and stood there, staring first at Anita and then her father, then back to Anita.

As for Anita, she laughed hard at her friends' reaction, feeling like the smartest person in the world for surprising the ones who usually surprised her.

The shock soon disappeared and in its place came an interrogatory where no question could be completely said or heard. They were speaking so quickly that Anita couldn't understand what their words meant, even though she could speak French. She could only make out a few words like "where", "you disappeared", "how did you" – and, among them, "Sal".

The reason why Sal had told her such a terrible lie was still a riddle for the girl. He would not just create such a story for nothing – then _why_?

Her mind had already created all sorts of explanations, all of them absolutely unbelievable. Frustrated, she decided to wait and hear what Sal had to say about the whole thing.


	16. Good Winds May Bring Bad News

**(Runs towards readers and kneels before them) I am SOOOOOOOO sorry so sorry so sorry so sorry so sorry! I promised you a chapter in less than a month, and instead I took almost two months to update. And the result is not as good as I would like. This chapter is a bit confusing, but I think it's understandable. I hope that the chapter is at least acceptable, since I made you wait for so long.**

**If you want to make me happy, review and check my newest fic "Tu Vas Me Détruire" in my profile or in the HOND FF archive!**

**_Important note: in most fics about HOND I've read, the King of Gypsies title passes from father to son, like in hereditary monarchy. However, I once read that the outcasts of Paris chose the smartest of them to be their leader, and this is the sistem I'm using for this fic. Just for you to know so you won't be confused._**

* * *

At that moment, Anita felt happy and complete like she had never felt before, as though all her joy had never been taken from her, and as though sorrow had never reached her heart. She had never really imagined that someday she would be there, in Paris, with two great friends and her father, dancing like if there was no tomorrow.

As for Juan Rivera, he was not as optimistic as his daughter; he had to keep an open eye to anyone who approached the girls. He had not told Anita about the suspicions which troubled his mind and soul. He could easily guess that Philip Bolder and his men were in Paris, but knew they wouldn't dare to do anything in the middle of a crowded square. He decided not to say a word about the subject to Anita, at least for now – _let her enjoy this day only a bit more_, he thought.

He watched as his daughter and her friends danced to entertain the people of Paris. He smiled proudly as he realized that his daughter was finally becoming a good dancer, like she had always wanted. He also noticed that she was not so careless about her appearance as well; a few colourful scarves around her waist and on her hair, as well as some jewellery, made quite the difference.

Still, another thing kept bothering him: what Anita had told him, about Sal saying he was dead, was completely unexplainable. The boy had always been a decent and inoffensive person and not much of a liar – then _why_?

Juan narrowed his eyes as he watched his daughter dancing. Now more than ever, he had to protect his child. Paris was not safe anymore; they would have to leave as soon as possible. But how? When he was coming, he had been attacked; and now he was almost sure that Bolder's men were guarding all the roads. It is already difficult for a gypsy to enter or leave a city without raising comments and suspicions; he had been lucky the last time, but if Bolder caught him again, he would be a dead man.

And Anita… He didn't want to think what they would do to Anita. No, they couldn't leave Paris right now; they would have to hide and be careful, until they had a chance to escape. Juan was already planning something for them, maybe travelling to Russia or China – the further, the better – and staying away from Europe for as long as they could. Yes, that sounded like a good plan. Maybe they both could settle down somewhere far away from that land where trouble and death chased them incessantly. Who knows? Anita could find a good husband, one that would protect her and keep her safe after her father died.

_Anita is certain to approve this plan_, he thought. _Maybe she will be sad for leaving her friends, but she will soon overcome it. After all, it's not like she fell desperately in love with someone here or anything_.

* * *

Hours later, the sun was almost setting and the city was covered by an orange light. Drunken men were sleeping in dark alleys, and the ones who didn't get drunk during the festival were half way there. Women dressed in rather revealing clothes and a shameless smile on their lips carefully painted in red walked into taverns and waited for "customers".

The streets were not a good place to be at night, especially if you are a gypsy and have no support from the law, so Anita, Adele, Lynna and Juan started to head to the Court of Miracles.

"I wonder how we are going to explain this whole thing to Clopin" Adele whispered to Lynna.

"If only we had not commented this in front of Clopin, he wouldn't have a clue of what happened, Anita's father would just arrive in the Court and everyone would be happy" Lynna said, sighing lazily.

"What are you talking about?" Anita entered the conversation. "Clopin doesn't know anything of what happened… Does he?"

Lynna and Adele exchanged a guilty look.

"It was all Adele's fault" Lynna said, pointing at Adele. She immediately denied it, and they kept bickering about who had left the information escape, until they decided they just couldn't remember who commented it first (although Lynna was still sure it had been Adele, and Anita secretly agreed with her, although she had not witnessed the scene).

"Who is Clopin?" Juan asked, as soon as the girls stopped talking.

"He is the King, father" Anita explained.

"Hmmm, I see… Last time I came here, there was another King" he commented. "When was old Bartholomieu replaced?"

"Six or five years ago" Lynna said, making a great effort to remember. "He woke up one day feeling really sick, drank seven bottles of wine and… well, _died_."

Juan merely laughed at this.

"He was never really worried about whether he was sober or not. But he was clever as the devil – that's why he was chosen King."

Juan kept talking about how things were when he first came to the Court of Miracles until they reached the dark alley where the entrance to the catacombs was located. Anita helped her father slide down the rock and entered right after him.

The corridors were dark as ever, and Anita had to hold her father's arm and lead his way, since he didn't know how to arrive to the Court through this path. They were stopped here and there by a few guards, and it took longer than they would have liked to convince them that Juan represented no danger.

When they finally made it to the square, they quickly headed to Anita's tent, so that they wouldn't call more attention. Anita quickly provided something for her father to eat, as well as water and a clean piece of cloth to wash his face, which was almost unrecognizable with all that dirt on it.

"We should tell Clopin right now, before someone else does" Lynna said. She was very worried about getting in trouble. "I will go fetch him right now" she declared, leaving the tent without waiting for an answer.

"Oh, my, this is going to be boring" Adele commented, sighing. Anita, however, did not pay attention to her. She was more focused on her father. What an odd thing, seeing him sitting on her tent at the Court of Miracles! It was very strange indeed, especially now that she had already accepted his death.

The awkward silence did not last much. Adele had a special gift for cheering everyone up, and started to talk to Juan as if he was an old friend. He was a bit confused by the girl's quick tongue and mind, and didn't know how to answer her questions – not that Adele really needed someone talking back to her; she could go on and on for hours without getting tired.

A few minutes later, they heard Lynna's voice; Anita quickly raced out of the tent, followed by Adele. There stood Lynna and Clopin; it looked like Lynna was almost dragging Clopin by the arm – and he looked extremely annoyed about that.

"You'd better have something absurdly important to say, because I was _absurdly _busy back in my tent!" he exclaimed. Anita instantly blushed and felt nervous, but she knew she would have to deal with that subject immediately.

At first, she didn't know what to say, and kept stuttering. Lynna tried to leave tiptoeing, but Anita pulled her back and forced her to stay (she didn't want to be left alone in such an uncomfortable situation). Adele went in and out of the tent at least four times. Clopin was growing impatient, so she decided to just end that agony.

He was very surprised to find that her father lived when he had just been told he was dead by her friends. Lynna and Adele tried to help Anita by explaining their point of view, but that only made Clopin more confused.

When she finally managed to put all the events in order, Clopin asked to be introduced to Juan Rivera. Anita held a sigh and motioned for him to follow her. She _hated _introducing people; it was absolutely awkward.

Juan stood up when they entered. As he was very tall, his head almost touched the ceiling of the tent. Clopin quickly examined him from head to toes.

_Note to self: never get in a fight with this man._

He was indeed a very strong man; he looked like he would be able to kill a big dog with his bare hands.

Anita was very nervous. She feared that Clopin might not trust her father and hang him – the possibility of him being expulsed didn't even cross her mind, since no one who knew the location of the Court without the King's blessing ever left the place alive.

However, it seemed that Clopin had no objections in letting her father stay. After a short conversation, they shook hands and the King was his normal happy self again. But Juan kept his expression dark. He couldn't forget about the man who had told his daughter that he was dead – a man whom he trusted as he would trust a son.

Well, maybe not so much. But hell, Sal would have a really hard time explaining his last deeds.

"Father?" his daughter's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Is everything alright?"

For the first time, he noticed something that made his heart break. He didn't know exactly what, but there was something in the way she had said "father" or "is everything alright" that did not sound as childish as it used to. When he looked into her eyes, he did not see anymore the innocent eyes of his child, but the firm eyes of a woman.

"Y…Yes" he replied, trying to keep his voice firm.

He expressed his thoughts about the whole affair (and they had to explain everything again, since no one in the tent really knew the whole story). After Anita showed everyone the hat covered with blood, and Juan declared it was the same hat he had lost while hiding from Bolder, Lynna exclaimed:

"I know! I have a plan. We will bring Sal here and make him confess."

"Are you mad?" Clopin shouted. "Do you really think that I will let a man with such a poor reputation enter the Court and let him live more than three minutes after that?"

"Surely, you could make an exception" Lynna said. "Let me explain…"

* * *

_**Next day, the market**_

"Sal!" Anita greeted, her voice cheerful and friendly.

The boy jumped at that sound, and looked at Anita as though she was a ghost. He opened his mouth to say something, but Anita interrupted him before he even started:

"Why on Earth did you leave me alone yesterday? I was attacked by a horrible man!"

"Re-really? I am really sorry, I, I was going to…"

"I was saved by a guard" she explained. "Lucky me, huh?"

"Yes… Yes, sure!"

She started a non-stopping and odd discourse about dances and songs and festivals which he could not pay attention to. He looked up at the sky and, when he came back to reality, Anita had wrapped her arm around his and they were walking down the street.

Anita's throat was dry. She had never talked so much in such a short period of time, and she was starting to realize the results of spending so many years being a shy, quiet girl. She wasn't used to monologue – it was Adele's speciality – and she decided that it definitely wasn't her sort of thing. _As soon as this whole madness ends, I will be old and mute Anita again_, she thought, with sweat rolling down her face, her tongue aching.

She was doing her best to sound unworried and confident, but her stock of lame conversations, poor excuses and words in general was not infinite, and she did not know what she was going to do when it was finally over.

_Where the hell are they?_

Looking around nervously, she stopped talking for a moment, hoping Sal wouldn't notice her uneasiness. Her worried expression turned into a smile of relief when she spotted Lynna and Adele walking towards them.

"Anita! What a _coincidence_!" cried Adele, with an unnecessary emphasis on the last word. "I certainly did _not _expect to find you _here_, with _this _young man, Bal..."

Lynna stepped hard on Adele's foot, while putting a friendly smile on her face.

"_Sal_" she said, elbowing Adele, who had to handle with the pain of being hit both on her foot and on the side of her belly without making a single noise. "What a pleasure to see you again."

Lynna's calm and reassuring presence seemed to reduce Sal's uneasiness. The three of them walked for quite some time – how much exactly, Sal wouldn't be able to tell. The girls talked without stopping, making it impossible to him to realize that the hours were passing.

"So" said Adele, when the sun was high on the sky, "aren't you hungry? I am. Let us find somewhere to eat."

He indicated a tavern on the other side of the street, but Adele shook her head. "Not that one" she said, "I don't like the wine they serve there."

Sal had never noticed that wines had different tastes depending on their quality, but he kept that to himself, not wanting to sound dumb.

When they arrived there, he decided he had never seen such a strange place for a tavern; the street was empty, except for a few rats, which ran away with shrieks. The whole place was dark, and he couldn't help but shiver – he hated darkness and rats. He felt like slapping himself for being so coward when the girls beside him did not even blink when a small crowd of rats passed between their feet and under their skirts.

He looked around, confused.

"Where is the tavern?" he asked in his strange accent.

"There is no tavern" Adele answered, unable to contain a little smile.

Sal trembled, sensing danger. _No sign of danger is clearer than a woman's smile_.

"W-what?"

"We are going to another place" Lynna said, grinning as well. He was so hypnotized by their wicked faces he did not notice Anita walk around him and move a stone on the floor right behind him.

"It is called Hell" Anita said, opening the entrance of the Court.

When Sal turned around to face her with wide, fearful eyes, two pairs of hands pushed his back and the floor disappeared beneath his feet.

* * *

"You know, we almost scared him to death" Lynna commented as the three of them knelt by the hole, ready to enter.

"Which wouldn't have been a bad idea. I disliked that broomsti – that _boy_ from the moment I met him."

They slipped into the dark hole, with a plan clear in their minds: lead a confused and blindfolded Sal through dark passages to the Court of the Miracles, and take him for a meeting with their King.

* * *

Sal was speechless for a moment. Everyone was staring at him with unfriendly eyes. After a few seconds, he gave in to his instincts and fell on his knees:

"Alright, I confess! It was all _his _doing!"

"Whose doing, you villain?" Juan grabbed him by his shirt. He already knew the answer to his question, though.

"Philip Bolder" whined him.

"And what do you have to do with him?"

Sal's face was turning red, and Anita feared that her father might accidentally kill him before he told the whole story.

"Father… Release him. He cannot run away."

Juan tightened his grip on the boy's shirt before throwing him onto the floor. He was a man known for his bad temper, and how easy it was to anger him.

"Now, boy, do not hide a single detail from us" Clopin said, kneeling down so that his eyes were in the same level as Sal's. "Can you explain your unexplainable behaviour?"

"I-I will tell you everything. P-please don't hurt me."

His guilty attitude and fearful eyes denunciated that he carried some heavy fault in his soul.

"E-Everything started when you two left the group" he started, referring to Anita and Juan. "A few months after that, we were in some small city in Germany. One of the gypsy girls was making a few tricks to entertain people for coins, but she was accused of witchcraft, and almost the whole group was arrested or killed. I was one of the few who managed to escape.

"I kept wandering from place to place until _he _found me. He recognized me right away, and… and…" he hesitated a bit before going on: "He forced me to be part of his plan!"

"You lie!" snapped Juan, grabbing Sal by his shirt, instantly noticing his sudden change from worried to excited as he said the last sentence.

"Alright, alright, I confess, I did everything for money, but it was not my faaaaaaaaaault!" Sal cried quickly, his voice fading to a miserable whining as he spoke.

"Not your fault, huh? So you tricked my daughter into thinking that I was dead by mistake, I suppose?"

"Father! You are going to kill him!" Anita shouted, exasperated.

Once again, Juan released the boy, who stood up trembling before continuing:

"He proposed me a deal: if I helped him in his vengeance, he would give me more money than I could ever imagine."

"Did you actually betray your friends for money, you dog?" Juan had to make a great effort to control his rage. Clopin just stood there, watching. It would be better not to interfere until Sal had finished his tale.

"And is there anything more important in life?" Sal asked with a lazy expression. "Don't we live to earn money? Don't gypsy girls dance and sell their bodies to earn money? Don't rich and noble men use their money to get _more_ money?"

No one answered this sudden pathetic piece of philosophy, and Sal continued, not looking so afraid anymore:

"I had no idea what his plan was, but I accepted. Before I knew it, we were in France – _he _was sure that you had come here," at this point Anita noticed that Sal seemed to avoid using Philip Bolder's name. "We headed to Paris, and hid outside the city walls. He didn't want to make his presence known. He asked everyone who came out of the city if they had seen you. He even drew a picture of you, Rivera, and it looked an awful lot like you.

"One day, a man came from Paris, and told us he had seen a girl who matched perfectly the description that one of Bolder's men gave him once; plus, she looked a lot like the man in the picture. That was how we were assured that Anita was in Paris. We didn't know if Rivera was here too, but _he_ made a plan to have Anita in his power and get all the information he wanted from her.

"That was when _I_ came into the scene: he wanted me to lead him to you. I remembered Rivera telling me that the Court of Miracles was in a cemetery, but we soon learned that the entrance had been changed. _He_ then told me to persuade you to come to the cemetery, _alone_, where he would be waiting. When he told me he had been able to find Juan's hat after he ran away one day, I had the idea of the hat; if you thought that your father was dead, and if I convinced you to make homage to him burying his hat as you would bury his body, it would be easy. I used my own blood to paint the hat and convince Anita of her father's death.

"But I still had to find her. I spent one day searching, but found nothing. When I came back to the cemetery to tell _him _about my failure, he told me to either come back with you or not come back at all. I was feeling miserable, but on that same night I met you, like if Fate was joking with me."

At this point, Anita interrupted him, enraged as she had never been before:

"Curse you! So you had the nerve to hug me like a friend right after plotting against my life?"

Sal smirked shamelessly.

"To be honest, it was you who hugged me first – ouch!"

Before he could finish, Anita slapped him across the face, something that he wasn't expecting, since Anita usually did not act with violence. However, Anita had forgotten all her scruples about being wild long ago. He lost his balance and it took him a few seconds to re-establish himself.

"This is an argument which I cannot fight" he simply said, placing his hand against his cheek.

"I told you that story about your father's death, gave you the hat, and the rest you know" he finished.

Lynna and Adele exchanged a worried look. Was this the same nervous boy they had met only a few weeks ago? Now he looked just coward and selfish.

"Well, if you know your faults so well, you must know the punishment" Clopin said, unable to retain a wicked smile. "All traitors and spies are hung at sight in the Court of the Miracles!"

Sal's defiant look instantly faded. He opened his mouth to protest, but did not seem to find any words to defend himself. Instead, he just screamed and begged for his life as he was taken to the gallows.

* * *

Sal's hanging was quick and summary. Almost informal. Everyone who was still awake in the Court had gathered around to watch the hanging, and as soon as it ended they lost their interest in the subject. Anita wondered if hangings were such a normal event at the Court, and shivered as she remembered the corpses and skeletons in the passages.

Later in the evening, she was with her father in her tent. She was very happy to have him with her. Little did she know that, in a few minutes, her happiness would be shattered into pieces.

In the middle of their conversation, Anita had the bad idea of asking:

"What are we going to do now, father? Philip Bolder knows that we are in Paris."

Juan's face went overcast.

"We will leave for the farthest place we can as soon as we're able to."

* * *

**Ooooooooops!**


End file.
